Harrisonburg Group Invites Author Dale Brumfield to Discuss His Latest Book
Dale Brumfield, currently with Virginians Against the Death Penalty, has just published a fascinating book on the history of Thomas Jefferson's brain child, the Virginia State Penitentiary.
This notorious prison opened in 1800 and set the standard for the future of the American prison system for years to come. It was Virginia's only state prison until Mecklenberg Correctional Center was opened in 1976. Today there are 39 state prisons in Virginia, housing over 38,000 inmates, with a total of additional 30,000 or so in Virginia jails and federal prisons.
The Penitentiary's historic original building, since razed to make room for development in downtown Richmond, was designed by U.S. Capitol and White House architect Benjamin Latrobe, and was considered a sign of great improvement over the cruel and often public forms of punishment common in those days. But over time it became notorious for many of the wrong reasons.
From the book's cover:
"The prison endured severe overcrowding, three fires, an earthquake and numerous riots. More than 240 prisoners were executed there by electric chair. At one time, the ACLU called it the "most shameful prison in America." The institution was plagued by racial injustice, eugenics experiments and the presence of children imprisoned among adults."
The Harrisonburg-based "Aging Persons In Prison Human Rights Campaign" group sponsored Brumfield's book-signing event.
September And October Parole Release Numbers Are The Lowest Ever
According to September and October parole release figures posted by the Parole Board consecutively just days ago, the Virginia Parole Board granted only 6 inmates parole releases in September, a grant rate of below 3%. In October, according to their report, they released no one. Not one. Zero. (They are also mandated, by the way, to post each month's results at the end of that month)
2. The entire Virginia Department of Corrections system is utterly dysfunctional and void of any success in carrying out its mission, which is to "...enhance the quality of life in the Commonwealth by improving public safety... through reintegration of sentenced men and women in our custody and care by providing supervision and control, effective programs and re-entry services in safe environments which foster positive change and growth consistent with research-based evidence, fiscal responsibility, and constitutional standards."
According to September and October parole release figures posted by the Parole Board consecutively just days ago, the Virginia Parole Board granted only 6 inmates parole releases in September, a grant rate of below 3%. In October, according to their report, they released no one. Not one. Zero. (They are also mandated, by the way, to post each month's results at the end of that month)
Some might reasonably ask whether these dismal numbers reflect one or both of the following:
1. The newly constituted Parole Board is unwilling to, or incapable of, carrying out its mission, which is to "grant parole to those offenders whose release is compatible with public safety." We all know there are scores of inmates who have made every effort for years to demonstrate they are worthy of release, who have worked hard to maintain an infraction-free record, have taken every rehabilitation and educational class possible, and who have earned solid recommendations both within and outside of prison. In addition there are hundreds of inmates, at Deerfield Correctional Center and elsewhere, who are aging and ailing, are blind, in wheel chairs, and otherwise immobilized, and who are way beyond deserving of geriatric release.
2. The entire Virginia Department of Corrections system is utterly dysfunctional and void of any success in carrying out its mission, which is to "...enhance the quality of life in the Commonwealth by improving public safety... through reintegration of sentenced men and women in our custody and care by providing supervision and control, effective programs and re-entry services in safe environments which foster positive change and growth consistent with research-based evidence, fiscal responsibility, and constitutional standards."
Quotes From A Recent Article by David M. Reutter, "Parole Remains Elusive For Virginia Inmates"
"We have a different culture in this country than exists in Canada or Europe where people who have committed very bad crimes serve 20 years or so, and that is pretty significant punishment," said criminal defense attorney Steve Rosenfield. "Supporting that are our own studies in this country that show that once people reach their 30's and start aging into their 50's and 60's, the rate and incidence of crimes that are committed by them when they are released is exceedingly small."
"That applies especially to those serving time for the most violent crimes," says Reutter, "An often cited Stanford University study of 860 murderers released on parole in California found only five returned to prison for new crimes, none of which were for homicide."
A Veteran Reviews His Life On Veteran's Day
"God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, And wisdom to know the difference."
I would like to add "And above all let us be kind"! This, to me, defines civility.
I served my country because I believe in what this country stands for...
Sometimes we do the wrong thing... When I did wrong, I confessed because it was the right thing to do. After being in the system for almost a decade now, I'm ashamed of this country's level of apathy and mistreatment of the poor (because a court appointed attorney is not a proper defense, I believe, due to a conflict of interest), of minorities (because there is still prejudice in this country even still after all that we've been through, how far we've come), the psychologically unhealthy (because there are no other institutions equipped to take care of them).
I can now say I have witnessed these things personally because here in the Department of Corrections, I have been subjected to more apathy than I thought possible. Ironically, I have experienced better treatment from my fellow inmates than staff, probably because during my walk here in prison I have witnessed more men trying to get right with God then I ever did on the street. The hardest thing I've had to deal with while in prison is apathy from the staff, being looked down upon and being treated child-like or subhuman. When you treat men as subhuman, subhumans are what you're going to release to the public.
I pray almost every day that I can overcome this incarceration and that this country can do better, but what God says comes to pass, "The love of men will wax cold!" That may be true for worldly man but not spiritual men and it doesn't have to be true for this nation-under-God. Writing this letter is my only veteran's day celebration because I may be ashamed of some things I've done but I've done many good things also. I'll always be proud of the twenty plus years for which I was honorably discharged and no one can ever take that experience from me and likewise I'll come out of this incarceration a better man, glory be to God, because it won't be according to my will or the will of the Department of Corrections. I've turned my will over to God. And this country can do better if it turns back to God as well!
A Veteran Reviews His Life On Veteran's Day
"God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, And wisdom to know the difference."
I would like to add "And above all let us be kind"! This, to me, defines civility.
I served my country because I believe in what this country stands for...
Sometimes we do the wrong thing... When I did wrong, I confessed because it was the right thing to do. After being in the system for almost a decade now, I'm ashamed of this country's level of apathy and mistreatment of the poor (because a court appointed attorney is not a proper defense, I believe, due to a conflict of interest), of minorities (because there is still prejudice in this country even still after all that we've been through, how far we've come), the psychologically unhealthy (because there are no other institutions equipped to take care of them).
I can now say I have witnessed these things personally because here in the Department of Corrections, I have been subjected to more apathy than I thought possible. Ironically, I have experienced better treatment from my fellow inmates than staff, probably because during my walk here in prison I have witnessed more men trying to get right with God then I ever did on the street. The hardest thing I've had to deal with while in prison is apathy from the staff, being looked down upon and being treated child-like or subhuman. When you treat men as subhuman, subhumans are what you're going to release to the public.
I pray almost every day that I can overcome this incarceration and that this country can do better, but what God says comes to pass, "The love of men will wax cold!" That may be true for worldly man but not spiritual men and it doesn't have to be true for this nation-under-God. Writing this letter is my only veteran's day celebration because I may be ashamed of some things I've done but I've done many good things also. I'll always be proud of the twenty plus years for which I was honorably discharged and no one can ever take that experience from me and likewise I'll come out of this incarceration a better man, glory be to God, because it won't be according to my will or the will of the Department of Corrections. I've turned my will over to God. And this country can do better if it turns back to God as well!
- Anonymous Virginia Inmate, 55, incarcerated since 2008
Deerfield's Blind Poet Dedicates A Poem To Singer Patsy Cline
Friends and Neighbors: I am Minor Junior Smith, The Poor Mountain Boy, a brother in Christ.
Some of Country Music's greatest stars, either living or deceased, helped me as I composed this song. Besides commemorating the birth and sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, it will also commemorate the late, and one of country music's greatest, Ms. Patsy Cline'. Her last airplane flight was on March 5th of 1963. She was on a goodwill mission when her plane crashed.
"Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?"
Mom would often talk of her children, her son's and her daughters so fair.
She said they were much like the wild wind, often neglectful to care.
I'm writing this down in a trench, Mom. Don't scold if It isn't so neat,
the way you did when I was a kid, and I'd come home with mud on my feet.
You know folks, This whole world is full of singers, and some were chosen to change our minds
when they sing. Keep those big eight wheels a-rolling, make that lonesome whistle whine,
for she tells a world of stories as she whistles through the pines.
In the Death-Car, lies a convict with a number for a name,
and he's going home this morning on that old big river train.
And Ms. Loretta Lynn sang: "Last night I dreamt, I took a walk up on Calvary Hill,
and what I saw with mine own eyes could not have been more real."
Loretta said she dreamt she saw three men a hanging on crosses in agony.
She said that the two outsiders cried out in pain, but the one in the middle looked at her,
and friends, I sincerely believe
that he was also looking at you and me.
"In the beginning was the Word,and the word was with God, and the word was God." (St John 1:1)
God blessed the souls from Memphis. "How great Thou Art" by Elvis.
Much too soon he left the world in tears.
And also in the sixties, young Johnny Cash's "Come Home son it's supper time" echoed through the years.
Does the heart of country music still beat from the late Hank Williams?
Hank sang:" I saw the light."
He was called home before us, and let his precious love flow on through our days and nights.
"All things were made by him;and without him was not anything made that was made." (St John 1:3).
Whose gonna fill their shoes? Whose gonna have their say?
"The Great Speckled Bird" or "I Didn't Hear Nobody Pray"?
Whose gonna give of their heart and soul to get to me and you?
Lord, I wonder,whose gonna fill their shoes. Lord, I wonder,whose gonna fill their shoes.
What a beautiful thought I am thinking, concerning The Great Speckled Bird.
I heard the crash on the highway, but I didn't hear nobody pray.
Friends, I cannot recall the rest of the late Roy Acuff's two songs of inspiration. But, if she is still living, then I believe that my former wife, whom I have not seen in over four decades, perhaps could, and also some of the songs by our late and great Patsy Cline.
- Minor Junior Smith
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