HARD TIME Editor Appreciates Your Support and Encouragement
It is always heartening to hear from you, even though I may not always get back to you as soon as I would like. Here's a sample of some of the good words I've felt touched by:
"To know there are people out there who care move me to tears sometimes. but they are happy tears. It was a bad year for me. I lost my sister-in-law of 40 years, my mom and a younger brother."
"Hard Time is a fitting title to describe things here. We've been getting moldy bread, and if we get ice at all in the summer it's two cups a day. If you don't have a fan (which they no longer sell) you are in trouble."
"I'm staying busy working full time in the Law Library, college at night and Peer Recovery Specialist training...Things are going well, but at 94, my pops needs help, and I sure would like to see him."
"I hope and pray you are doing well ansd are blessed with good health. I'm 73 year old, am eligible for geriatric release, and have spent 33 years in prison. I have an excellent institutional record, have worked hard every day, and now am having health problems. Sometimes I don't know what to do anymore. I pray you and your family will have a blessed Christmas."
Harvey Yoder, P.O. Box 434, Harrisonburg VA 22803
Sadly, Few Parole Eligible Individuals Will Be Home For Christmas
Jonathan White at Augusta Correctional Center keeps an updated tally of parole releases in Virginia, and offers the following update: "November had four grants, one female and three men. It looks like mostly new law or Fishback cases, and two were continued back on parole. This brings the official count for 2023 to 33 grants, which is 1% of the parole eligible population of 3,320."
For Now, Lawrenceville Remains Virginia's Only For-profit Prison
According to a recent issue of the Richmond Times, the state's only GEO operated prison, and one of Virginia's largest, will not become a state run prison again anytime soon. This in spite of Lawrenceville having 22 deaths in 2022, the highest number of overdoses in the state, and having serious building maintenance and staff shortage problems. It appears to be all about money. By LCC cutting corners wherever possible, the state gets by with paying GEO $51.55 per bed per day, compared to its average cost of $76.48, according to the Times.
12/18/23 UPDATE in the December 15 issue of the Virginia Mercury: "On Friday, the Virginia Department of Corrections said it has been informed that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s budget proposal, which he will present to the House and Senate money committees this Wednesday, includes additional funding for the state to take over Lawrenceville safely next year. Gibson said the corrections department “is expected to make capital improvements with existing funds to upgrade and renovate the facility.”
Prison Phone Calls And Emails In Virginia Exceed The National Average
According to ACLU's Shawn Weneta, "What we know is that one in three families in Virginia goes into debt simply trying to stay in contact with an incarcerated loved one. We know that 87% of the people bearing this burden are women. And it's mostly Black and Brown women.
An Insider's Take On The Drug Crisis In Virginia's Prisons
I write this to highlight the systematic chaos within the Virginia Department of Corrections (VODOC). I've been a ward of the VODOC for the past 14 years and have experienced unspeakable acts due to the negligence and actions of this department's staff. Examples range from indifferent medical care surrounding my battle with Sickle Cell Anemia, to my being severely assaulted by staff at Wallens Ridge State Prison. We have a grievance system that is abused by staff. Then there's the illegal contraband problem, inmates have access, depending on the institution, to illegal drugs, cell phones; and even black market Narcan for inmates to reverse overdoses without the intervention of VODOC 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 when you compare such instances to the volume of visitors this department has annually it's a miniscule percentage.
I can attest to the fact that in my 14 years as a ward of the VODOC the overwhelming majority of drugs and illegal contraband introduced into Virginia institutions is done at the hands of staff. Yet there is little done to mitigate this. Yes, some institutions have implemented body scanners, but they are daily circumvented by staff. Additionally since the onset of the pandemic three years ago visit's were suspended for two of those years. Within those two years drug and overdose numbers exploded.
For the majority of that time I was housed at Sussex 1 State Prison. With visitation being suspended and drugs still pouring into the institutions you would think there would have been more drug screening. I can unequivocally attest that during this period drug testing was not being performed at a rate compared to that prior to the suspension of visitation. I'm sure the Sussex staff will deny but I know what I and others observed, and I'm sure this can be authenticated by reviewing statistics of drug screenings. Only one answer remains: they refused to come to terms with the fact the majority of the drugs and contraband introduced into institutions is at the hands of its staff.
Sadly when an officer is suspected of trafficking contraband they are often allowed to quietly resign, very few are prosecuted when caught. Now we have to come to terms with this narrative being continued--of our families being the sole traffickers and not staff--with the rumored changes you want to implement surrounding visitation. Sadly, since a new scheduling system was implemented visitation volume has been at an all time low. This is because the system in place is confusing and many people just give up on scheduling a visit.
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 the visitation experience. I pray they are performed in a constructive and non punitive way. At this point the current [rumored] changes will only influence major backlash; that will make institutions less safe for inmates and staff. I can only hope you take just as hard of stance against your staff who are the main culprits in many of the problems your department faces.
I thank you for the time it has taken you to read this correspondence, and look forward to your corrective action
Respectfully,
Chey M. Barrington
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