An occasional newsletter by and for incarcerated persons in Virginia
A Hanukkah Miracle - Harvey Yoder
In a Reader’s Digest story years ago the Markovitz’s, a Jewish family who lived in a Pennsylvania suburb, were rudely awakened one night during the Christmas season by the sound of glass shattering. They ran to their living room to find their picture window broken where they had their illuminated menorah, a Jewish candelabra, damaged and lying on the floor.
There’s was the only home in their neighborhood that didn’t have traditional Christmas decorations, and some person or group apparently felt a need to express their intolerance by destroying this symbol of their faith used in a celebration of Hanukkah, marking the event when, as tradition has it, Jews returned to their temple in Jerusalem after their exile and went about reconsecrating it by keeping a lamp lit in the temple day and night. There was oil enough only for one night, but according to tradition, the lamp kept burning for eight nights, a miracle Hanukkah commemorates each year.
Some of the Markowitz’s neighbors got together to determine how to show their support. The next evening when they returned to their home, they saw an extraordinary sight, like another miracle. House after house had an illuminated menorah in the window, as if to say, “If you want to bring harm to one of us, you will have to attack to us all.”
Incarceration Numbers in Virginia Are Dropping
According to a November 22, 2022 Richmond Times article, the number of adult offenders incarcerated in Virginia is set to drop 12% this fiscal year, and will likely remain below 27,000 for the next five years, according to the state forecast. That comes after a 19% drop from 2019, before the pandemic hit.
Here are key factors cited in the article:
• Over 70% due to the release of 2,676 inmates under the Earned Sentence Credit bill
• Raising the felony threshold for larceny from $500 to $1,000 in 2020
• Changes in sentencing guidelines for technical violations of probation
• Numbers were already in decline by about 5% from a 2014 peak
•While there has been some increase in assault and theft cases, charges for drug use or possession (other than marijuana) are down by 16% so far this year.
Youngkin restores civil rights to over 800 Virginians
Only Virginia and Kentucky bar convicted felons from voting, but individuals in our state can have the governor restore their rights on a case-by-case basis. Gov. Youngkin has said, “Second chances are essential to ensuring Virginians who have made mistakes are able to move forward toward a successful future…. I applaud those who have committed to starting fresh with renewed values and a will to positively contribute to our society.”
During his four years in office Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored voting rights to a total of 173,611 citizens with felony convictions, and former Gov. Ralph Northam restored rights to 69,000.
Stamps and commissary products now packaged offsite
Since commissary items are being processed and shipped from the new Keefe warehouse in Glen Allen, price increases have already begun to show up. For example, a box of 100 individual blue sugar twin sweeteners was $1.97 per box, and they are now $0.36 cents for a package of ten individual packs, which is $3.60 per 100, which represents a 83% increase, with other increases sure to be added. Meanwhile, wages and prison work salaries for offender's have not increased at all. (submitted by Jonathan White at Augusta Correctional Center)
A Conversation with Parole Board Chair Dotson
I had a half hour phone conversation recently with Chadwick Dotson, the chair of the Virginia Parole Board appointed by Governor Youngkin, about some of the longstanding concerns many have had about our present parole system. He had read my column in the February 5, 2022 Richmond Times on parole and said he was in substantial agreement with the reforms proposed by the Prison Policy Initiative as cited in my Times piece.
The Chairman reiterated his desire to give every parole eligible person a fair hearing and a second chance, but admitted that so far the Board's grant rates haven't reflected the change in numbers he hopes to see in the upcoming months. Not all members of his Board agree on how, among other things, the seriousness of an individual's crime should affect a decision about their release versus the seriousness with which they have worked at their rehabilitation. He stated several times that he would like to be able to have more members have actual conversations with the individuals whose cases are being reviewed so they could interact with real persons and not just with data provided by board examiners. Since three of the five board members are only part time, this remains a challenge.
He also said that victims and victim families deserve to have a voice but not a veto in deciding a case, and that everything possible should be done to carry out the Parole Board's stated mission, which is to "grant release to those whose release is compatible with public safely." He also said he would seriously consider the suggestion made by many that all favorable votes be reported as well as unfavorable ones. Currently voting stops when three board members vote to deny release (via a remote computer) which means parole eligible persons never know whether the remaining vote or votes would have been a yes or a no.
Dotson agreed that the element of hope for release is vital to the morale of those incarcerated and to the safety of the prisons housing them, and that detainees deserve to know why they are repeatedly denied release time after time in spite of all of their efforts at remaining infraction-free and in spite of their availing themselves of every rehabilitative program offered.
The chairman reported that he and other board members have visited numerous other states to see how they are working at granting parole, and says they are working on a new procedural manual that is to be presented to Governor Youngkin by the end of he month for his review and approval for the upcoming year. He hopes the 2023 Virginia Assembly and Senate will support these and other measures to help bring about positive changes in the way Virginia's criminal justice system functions.
As to the work of the Parole board, "Wait and see what happens in the next number of months," he said, "as we engage in 'structured decision making' regarding the future of all cases under review.”
- Harvey Yoder, Valley Justice Coalition, Box 434, Harrisonburg, VA 22803
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