Guest Post: An Open Letter To DOC Director Chadwick Dotson

Chadwick Dotson, a respected judge who was appointed
by Governor Youngkin as chair of the Parole Board, has
recently been named director of the Virginia Department
of Corrections to replace former head Harold Clarke.

October 23, 2023

Dear Director Dotson,

I write to highlight the systematic chaos within the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC), such as having an escapee from Greensville, increased overdose deaths in multiple institutions, and most recently the massive amounts of contraband seized from a Sussex State Prison employee.

I've been a ward of the VA DOC for the past 14 years and have experienced unspeakable acts due to the negligence and actions of department staff. Examples range from indifferent medical care surrounding my battle with sickle cell anemia to my being severely assaulted by a staff member at Wallens Ridge State Prison.

We have a grievance system that is abused by the staff, plus there is the illegal contraband problem, with inmates having access, depending on the institution, to illegal drugs, cell phones; and even black market Narcan to reverse the effects of overdoses without the intervention of DOC staff.

Unfortunately for many years this department has manufactured the narrative that all the drugs and illegal contraband introduced into Virginia institutions come through the visitation room. I will concede that there have been instances over the years of visitors being apprehended with illegal contraband, but in the same breath I will say when you compare such instances to the volume of visitors this department has it's a miniscule percentage.

I can attest to the fact that in my 14 years as a ward of the DOC the overwhelming majority of drugs and illegal contraband have been brought in by staff, yet in recent years little to nothing has been done to mitigate this growing problem. While some institutions have implemented body scanners for staff and visitors, but they are circumvented by staff on a regular basis.

Since the onset of the pandemic three years ago visits were suspended for two of those years, during which time drugs and overdoses exploded. For the majority of those two years visitation was completely suspended while I was housed at Sussex 1 State Prison. With drugs still pouring in you would think there would have been more monitoring and drug screening. Unfortunately I can unequivocally attest that during this period drug testing was purposely not being performed at a rate comparable to the time prior to the suspension of visitation. This is a fact I'm sure the Sussex staff will deny but I know what I and others have observed, and I'm sure this can be authenticated by reviewing statistics of drug screenings prior to and after the suspension of visitation. 

Sadly when an officer is suspected of trafficking contraband they are often allowed to quietly resign rather than being prosecuted when caught. Meanwhile we must refute the narrative of family members being the sole traffickers. Since visits were reinstated following the pandemic, the new scheduling system has become more confusing and complicated, resulting in visitation volume being at an all time low. 

In closing, I have four years left to serve on my sentence. I can only hope your being appointed as Director will bring positive change to this department. It's rumored you want to implement sweeping changes to visitation policy. I pray this will be done in a constructive and non punitive way. At this point the rumored changes will only cause the kind of backlash that will make institutions less safe for inmates and staff. And I hope you will take a harder stance regarding staff who are the main culprits in many of the problems this department faces. Due to low hiring standards this department is currently even employing gang members and Neo-Nazi's, particularly in some of the western prisons where there seems to be less oversight. In due time and with a little investigation you will see find these claims to be true. 

I thank you for the time it has taken you to read this correspondence, and look forward to your corrective actions.

Respectfully,

Chey M. Barrington

Lunenberg Correctional Center