A recent AP article stated that dozens of violent offenders were among those recently released. It also reported an outcry from prosecutors and some family members of victims who said they were not notified as required by law.
Most of those released had already served decades of time behind bars.
Tonya Chapman, the new chair of the Board, stated in an email, "The Parole Board, already inclined to grant parole prior to the pandemic, felt that expediting certain cases was appropriate due to the age of the offender and underlying health conditions, and the board was confident that their release was compatible with public safety." There have been at least five COVID-related deaths in Virginia prisons.
There were 36 total grants for February 2020, four Board review grants, four geriatric grants, and 28 regular parole grants, all men.
In March there were a surprising 95 grants, twelve of which were geriatric. Of these all but one were male. This represents half the number released in all of 2019, but there are still over 1,400 more prisoners behind bars under the old-law (sentenced before 1995).
(April numbers will be added here when they become available)
An ACC Prisoner Appeals For Parole Release
There are many men here at Augusta Correctional Center who, like myself, are "parole eligible lifer's" under the old law, people who have been before the Virginia Parole Board numerous times and who have exceptional prison records demonstrating model citizenship. Some of us are now well into our geriatric stages of life, aged men living in the single cell community pod who work in essential job assignments like maintenance and population/staff laundry services while maintaining positive behavior adjustments and interacting positively with the staff, offender population and needs and services to this facility.
We are men deserving of a second chance with respect to the time served in punishment for our crimes, men who have been incarcerated for 25-40+ years. None of us have character traits that would disqualify us from being productive returning citizens in society on parole or from being anyone's good next door neighbor upon release. We have undertaken positive steps to prepare and transform our lives for reentry through spiritual, vocational, educational and treatment programming to enhance the quality of our lives and to correct our past failures and poor decisions, regardless of our guilt or innocence.
I speak not just for myself but collectively from all of us. "We are not the worst of the worst" and we deserve a fair and positive opportunity to be reunited with our families, our loved ones and our community, just as others have who have recently been granted release by the parole board.
The past cannot be changed, but many of us with a dark past have demonstrated a genuinely changed life and are capable of creating a bright and hopeful present and future.
- a geriatric inmate at ACC
HARD TIME Editor's Letter to the Daily News-Record
Editor, DNR:
These three prolific Bible authors, Lawgiver/Liberator Moses, King/Psalmist David, and Apostle/Missionary Paul have one thing in common. Each was guilty of one or more capital crimes that today could be deserving of imprisonment for life.
But as people of faith we believe God is all about redemption rather than retribution for those who demonstrate genuine repentance. We believe wrongdoers, including ourselves, can be transformed from being the "worst of the worst” to becoming "the best of the best" by God's amazing grace and with the help of other good people.
It was philosophers like Immanuel Kant who promoted the idea of retributive justice over the redemptive justice of Jesus and the prophets. And it is that rationalist, retributive mindset that still governs our policy toward those found guilty of crimes.
Should our DOC should be renamed the Department of Punishment rather than the Department of Corrections?
- Harvey Yoder, Rockingham, VA
Buckingham Prisoner Logs Activities During Pandemic
Sunday, April 26, 7:25 p.m. An ambulance pulled up to our prison's rear entrance. Two men wearing PPE's rolled an inmate with a face mask and orange jumpsuit to the ambulance. At 8:20 the ambulance left, followed by a VADOC van.
Monday April 27, 5:16 p.m. Another ambulance picks up an inmate in a wheelchair.
Tuesday, April 28. Meals have been skimpy since our lock down. Our laundry, which is usually turned in on Sunday, was picked up today.
Saturday, May 2, 11 p.m. A VADOC van came to our rear entrance sally port to pick up another inmate in a wheelchair.
Sunday, May 3, 3 p.m. Another ambulance picked up an inmate with an oxygen tank and in a wheelchair.
Tuesday, May 5. We are now being fed in our cells. Ice is brought to us once or twice a day.
Wednesday, May 6. Approximately 13 white 4-door trucks with camper shells, some with trailers, along with three full-size white vans, arrived in the back parking lot. Before entering the facility, men and women dressed in sand colored outfits put on white paper chemical suits with full face masks, respirators and rubber gloves. They went pod to pod inserting long wooden cotton swabs deep inside each inmate's nostril. It was not a pleasant experience. The woman who did mine was nice and professional and did it quickly. Then apologized. She made me feel human. Hopefully, staff will be tested too. They have set up a huge tent in the back parking lot and a red canopy beside the outside sally port gate. I saw at least 51 people come inside our facility to take test samples.
Thursday, May 7. A local ambulance picked up an elderly looking inmate in a wheel chair who was put on a gurney and left the facility at around 5:05 pm.
Friday, May 8. Another inmate was pushed in a wheelchair to the sally port and was taken away in a SUV at 10:20 am.
Friday, May 8. Yet another inmate in a wheelchair is taken in white van at around 8:15 pm.
Saturday, May 9. A VADOC van picked up an inmate at approximately 6:50 am.
Saturday, May 9. Two inmates who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus were moved to a housing unit set aside to isolate such cases. One of them had been told on April 1 that he had been granted parole but was still here over a month later.
Sunday, May 10. Another ambulance arrived at around 10:40 am and an inmate in a wheel chair with an oxygen tank was escorted to the vehicle.
Monday, May 11, 5:03 p.m. A correctional officer brought an inmate in a wheelchair to the personal property room to prepare him with waist chain, handcuffs and leg shackles for transportation.
Wednesday, May 12. Between 4 and 5 p.m. the men in my pod were finally allowed outside for recreation. We are still not being permitted to report to work.
Thursday, May 14, 3:20 p.m. An inmate walked to an ambulance in the sally port with lights flashing. They left the facility at 4:07 pm with a white correctional van following.
- A Virginia State Prisoner
Dillwyn Advocate Laments Her Son's Treatment
On April 6 a Correctional Officer making her rounds at Dillwyn Correctional Center was not wearing her mask as required by CDC guidelines. When prisoners asked her to put her mask on she refused, telling them she hoped they "all got it." Some 20-25 men filed complaints against her. The next day, as administrator of the Dillwyn Correctional Center Facebook page, I posted the story of the CO refusing to wear her mask. On April 8, as a part of a story on "Prisoners File Lawsuit over COVID 19" that appeared on Channel 12 Richmond, the reporter mentioned the CO at Dillwyn who had refused to wear her mask. The warden later apologized for the incident.
On April 10, I received a phone call from the VADOC and was asked to change the name of the Facebook page from "Dillwyn Correctional Center" to "Advocates for Dillwyn Correctional Center." I agreed and made the change. On April 22 my son reported being ill, was shown to have a fever and was moved to building 7 at Dillwyn, one set up to receive around 40 quarantined patients. He was tested for COVID-19 and was notified a week later that he was infected.
During the weekend of May 2-3, inmates in building 1 and 3 protested the lack of proper COVID-19 care at Dillwyn. Those in Building 1 went on a two-day hunger strike because they were not being served on disposal dishes as specified by the CDC. Building 3 was receiving the overflow of COVID 19 patients that could no longer go into building 7. The VADOC website was reporting that Dillwyn was now showing over 200 COVID positive inmates. COs tried to place additional cots into building 3 to increase the numbers from 67 to 90 patients. The inmates protested by barricading the doors. The situation was finally defused when the assistant warden told them that no more sick inmates would be put into building 3. They were shorthanded this weekend as many COs had called in sick.
On the evening of May 4 our son, who had been quarantined in building 7 since April 22, was transferred with five others from Dillwyn, a Level 2 facility, to Sussex 2, a dangerous Level 4 facility. Dillwyn did not confirm that he was no longer COVID-19 positive, nor did they allow him to complete his two weeks of quarantine. He was the only one taken from building 7, which had not been involved in the protests of May 2-3. None of the men were given a charge or told the reason for their transfer. But since I, his mother, am the administrator for the "Advocates for Dillwyn Correctional Center" Facebook Page where many relatives had voiced their concerns, this made the transfer appear to be retaliatory.
At any rate, our son had to repeat two more weeks of quarantine at Sussex 2, and we are waiting the results of his second COVID test. Courteney Stuart of Channel 19 CBS News in Charlottesville has done three television interviews about the transfer and Sandy Hausman did one for Virginia Public Radio.
Pray with us that he will be returned to a level 2 facility when his 2 weeks of quarantine are completed
- A concerned mother.
Anxious Parent Asks, “Will This Cycle Ever Be Broken?”
My son’s legal battles started at a young age and seem to go on forever.
It all began when he was 12 and I discovered he was experimenting with marijuana. I was devastated, alarmed, worried; all the things most parents feel in this situation. I wanted to take action right away. I looked into rehab facilities, counseling, and wilderness programs, looking for any assistance I could get. Unfortunately, I met resistance from both my son and his father. Hoping to get primary custody so that I could try to deal with the issue, I looked to the court to assist. However, since my son was 13, the judge deemed he had the right to choose where he wanted to live. My son chose to live with his dad, where he could do basically what he wanted, and I became the “bad” parent who wanted help for my son.
Because of this, I was basically cut off from his life. Needless to say, things did not improve. His criminal activity branched out to stealing in order to buy marijuana. He had several stints in juvenile facilities. I was frantic to get help before he became 18, but the only “help” received was punitive in nature. I hoped that the juvenile facilities would provide counseling but that was lacking as well.
Because of this, I was basically cut off from his life. Needless to say, things did not improve. His criminal activity branched out to stealing in order to buy marijuana. He had several stints in juvenile facilities. I was frantic to get help before he became 18, but the only “help” received was punitive in nature. I hoped that the juvenile facilities would provide counseling but that was lacking as well.
It all came to a head during my son’s senior year when I was driving home and passed my son’s high school. I noticed a commotion in the parking lot and saw my son’s car surrounded by police cars. It turns out he was caught with marijuana and stolen goods in his vehicle. He was expelled from school and went directly to jail. While in jail, just a few days after his 18th birthday, the police did a drug bust at his father’s house and found marijuana plants growing. Even though he was incarcerated at the time, only my son got charged and his troubles continued to mount.
As an adult, he now faced more serious charges, and as a result agreed to a plea deal that stated he would do 2 years of probation in lieu of 7 years in jail. Needless to say, since he had now been smoking weed from the age of 12, staying clean for his random drug tests turned out to be impossible for him. Therefore, he decided to violate probation, thinking he was going to jail either way. Because of that he became a felon, and over the years his charges and troubles grew to the point where he had many felonies, all stemming from his initial marijuana charge.
My son is a talented wood carver and is highly intelligent, in spite of his poor decisions as a young man. He even earned his GED, and has never committed crimes with hard drugs, nor any violent crimes. But his charges snowballed from marijuana to probation violation to eluding police, so he is now in jail. In some states his marijuana use would not even be a crime. As a parent, I feel that the criminal justice system has failed. Yes, there is no doubt that my son broke the law and deserves to be punished, but there were absolutely no rehabilitative services even recommended along the way. Everything that occurred was punitive.
It makes me sad to think of how many other individuals may be sitting in jail like my son, who could also be productive citizens in society. It seems like such a waste for individuals with minor drug charges or probation violations to be in jail wasting time, money, and their very lives! And as parents we wait, wondering if the legal system will ever change and whether this cycle can ever be broken for our sons and daughters.
As an adult, he now faced more serious charges, and as a result agreed to a plea deal that stated he would do 2 years of probation in lieu of 7 years in jail. Needless to say, since he had now been smoking weed from the age of 12, staying clean for his random drug tests turned out to be impossible for him. Therefore, he decided to violate probation, thinking he was going to jail either way. Because of that he became a felon, and over the years his charges and troubles grew to the point where he had many felonies, all stemming from his initial marijuana charge.
My son is a talented wood carver and is highly intelligent, in spite of his poor decisions as a young man. He even earned his GED, and has never committed crimes with hard drugs, nor any violent crimes. But his charges snowballed from marijuana to probation violation to eluding police, so he is now in jail. In some states his marijuana use would not even be a crime. As a parent, I feel that the criminal justice system has failed. Yes, there is no doubt that my son broke the law and deserves to be punished, but there were absolutely no rehabilitative services even recommended along the way. Everything that occurred was punitive.
It makes me sad to think of how many other individuals may be sitting in jail like my son, who could also be productive citizens in society. It seems like such a waste for individuals with minor drug charges or probation violations to be in jail wasting time, money, and their very lives! And as parents we wait, wondering if the legal system will ever change and whether this cycle can ever be broken for our sons and daughters.
- another concerned mother
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