HARDTIME VIRGINIA, Vol. 9, No. 2 Summer 2024

This is a little news sheet I send to some of the prisoners I've heard from over the years:

How Can Communities Help Returning Prisoners Succeed?

     According the US Bureau of Justice statistics, at least 95% of all state prisoners will eventually be released, ready or not. Due to Virginia's Earned Sentence Credit (ESC) bill that went into effect in July, the Commonwealth will see up to 2000 prisoners released early over the next two years, with 870 already having been granted their freedom on July 1.

     Some people, including Virginia's Attorney General, fear this will make communities less safe, given the fact that 82% of those currently being released from prisons are rearrested at least once within 10 years, and 43% within their first year of freedom. 

     There is reason to believe, however, that those released through the ESC bill will prove to be an exception to those numbers. All will have completed certain required reentry programs, have proven to be dependable workers at their prison jobs, and have been infraction free for an extended period of time. In other words, they will all have demonstrated hard work and responsibility in meeting goals that contribute to their success. 

     The other vital factor affecting their success will be the support of caring and engaged communities. In the state of Washington congregations have offered mentoring and support to returning prisoners through a One Prisoner, One Parish program, in which communities of faith adopt someone with whom they correspond and visit while in prison, then offer care, friendship and practical help as needed when they return to their communities. 

     According to the Harvard University Criminal Justice Policy Group, seven factors are critical for successful outcomes, adequate healthcare, gainful employment, affordable housing, necessary skill development, one on one mentoring, and supportive social networks. Caring communities can be a vital part of helping individuals access all of these.                       

- Harvey Yoder, editor

Is The Virginia Parole Board In Violation Of SB 1361?

     What follows is from the text of a bill enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia May 12, 2023 that gives specific directions about how they are to make and report their decisions, as in “An Act to amend and reenact Section(s) 2.2-3703, 53.1-136, 53.1-154, and 53.1-154, and 53.1-155 of the Code of Virginia…”

     In addition to the other powers and duties imposed upon the Board by this article, the Board shall:

     9. Ensure that each person eligible for parole receives a timely and through review of his/her suitability for release on parole, including a review of any relevant post-sentencing information. If parole is denied, the basis for the denial of parole shall be in writing and shall give specific individualized reasons for such denial to such inmate, and

     10. Convene a public meeting, either in person or via video conference, when conducting the final deliberation and vote regarding whether the Board will grant parole to a prisoner. The prisoner being considered for parole or his attorney shall be permitted to attend such meeting either, in the Board's discretion, in person or via video conference. The victim shall be permitted to attend and participate in such meeting either, in the Board's discretion, in person or via video or phone conference or to provide written or recorded testimony. No decision to grant discretionary parole shall be made by the Board unless such decision was discussed and debated at a meeting at which a majority of the Board members were present. Whether the Board grants or denies discretionary parole to an inmate, each Board member shall identify his/her reasoning for such decision at the time such member's vote is cast.

A Survivor of Childhood Abuse Shares His Story

     

     My name is Richard “Rick” Webb, and I am serving a life sentence without parole in Virginia. I am a survivor of childhood sex abuse and of being bullied when I was a child. I know that I am not alone and that most never take things to the extreme that I did. I understand, and for anyone hearing my story for the first time, I own my crimes, acknowledge the terrible harm I caused, and I am truly sorry for what I did.

     For years I didn't know how to talk about what I went through nor did I know how to handle hearing that the reason I went through some of what I did was because my aunt and my mom were also both victimized as children by the people I shot, their parents (my grand parents).

     These were among the very people who didn't try to help me when the one and only time as a five year old I tried to let them know I was being molested, nothing was done but to tell me to be quiet. Over the next several years I would deal with other sexual traumas from outside of the family, and all of these went unreported and were left unchecked. They finally boiled over after over 12 years of pain and depression.

     I committed my crimes when I was 18 years old, still young and immature in so many ways. Emotionally I was still a little boy with no clue as to the longterm ramifications of my actions.

     I hit rock bottom in prison. But without any hope for freedom I set out to help people who have been, or still are, dealing with trauma. I became a mentor to my peers, creating and teaching my own version of a conflict resolution class as well as a communication class. I've completed just about all classes offered to prisoners over the years.

     I've remained institutional infraction free for the better part of the past 23 straight years. I've been in honor pods at multiple institutions, I've had the sensitive area jobs in prison that are normally reserved for those of us who are not trouble makers.

     There is so much more. but I'm trying to keep this as short as possible. Should people be willing to help me and others like me in our fight for freedom, it would be deeply appreciated.

Richard "Ric" Webb 1174188, Buckingham Correctional Center

The Virginia Parole Board Released No One In July

     In light of the Virginia Parole Board’s mission “to grant parole or conditional release to those inmates whose release is compatible with public safety,” one wonders what the current members of the Board are being paid for. They approved two persons being continued on parole, but no one was granted either a discretionary or a geriatric release in July. 

     Here are the total numbers so far for 2024: Continued on Parole: 11, Discharged Sentence: 1, Geriatric Release: 4. Discretionary Release: 2, Dual Discretionary and Geriatric Release: 2, Terminally ill: 3, Total Grants Released on Parole: 11.

     This is unbelievable.

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"Remember those who are in prison, as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as though you yourselves were suffering." Hebrews 13:3

Harvey Yoder, editor, Valley Justice Coalition, P.O. Box 434, Harrisonburg, VA 22803

I may not always be able to respond promptly to every correspondent but I do value hearing from readers.

Which Reaction To The Hamas Attack On Israel?

Over 40,000 Gazans have been killed, and
many more injured, among the over 800,000
who live in an area much smaller than
Rockingham County.

I see four Torah-based responses Israel could have considered in its response to the October 7 terrorist attack:

1. Choosing to simply show love for their fellow Semitic neighbors, treating them and other sojourners among them the way they would want to be treated.

You shall not hate your brother or sister in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbors, lest you incur sin because of them. You shall not take vengeance or bear grudges against the offspring of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:17-18

God ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.   Deuteronomy 10:18-19 

2. Letting God take revenge on evildoers. 

It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them. The LORD will vindicate his people and relent concerning his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.   Deuteronomy 32:35-36

3. If meting out justice, never exacting more than an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, whether an offense involving an alien or a citizen.

Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.  Leviticus 24:19-22

4. Taking vengeance in their own hands, as in the story of the ancient Midianites. 

So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord's vengeance on them." Numbers 31:1-3

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Here's the perspective of one Jewish writer Naomi Klein: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/24/zionism-seder-protest-new-york-gaza-israel

Is The High Cost Of Living Our Main Problem Or The Cost Of High Living?

Costs of housing, child care, health
care and college are indeed rising.

We hear a lot of lament these days by those who say they are "living from paycheck to paycheck" in spite of having incomes that are far above the poverty level, and multiple times higher than billions of their fellow human beings around the world.

But is the problem only one of rising costs or is it also a result of our ever rising expectations for the kind of lifestyles to which we feel entitled?

Here are some examples:

1. Most of us assume the right to own at least one expensive, state-of-the-art vehicle, and often one for every licensed driver in the household. Fewer than one in five people around the world ever enjoy kind of convenience. 

2. In contrast to earlier generations, few households grow and preserve any significant amount of their own food. They eat out regularly (and recreationally), and rely on local supermarkets for overpackaged, overpriced and over processed food products that are convenient and tasty, but often unhealthy.

3. Most middle class Americans benefit from exceptional dental and medical care, but as a art of a healthcare system that is far more expensive than in most parts of the world.

4. According to Global Apparel Industrial Statistics,  the average American buys an article of clothing every five days, adding to their already overstocked wardrobes.

5. In my lifetime rentable storage units have popped up everywhere for our excess possessions, in spite of the average square footage of space per person in our homes having quadrupled over the past century. 

Your comments?

What On Earth To Wear--Catching Up To Slow Fashion

Jane Milburn is one of numerous authors advocating
for fair, just and environmentally sustainable apparel.

"Why worry so about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they flourish: they neither toil nor spin; yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

- Jesus (Matthew 6:28-9, paraphrased)

According to an article in Forbes magazine by Christopher Marquis, the average American buys a new article of clothing every five days. And the writer cites a McKinsey study finding that 90% of what is in our closets is discarded well before being worn out.

Marquis further notes , "The rise of this fast fashion has created large-scale environmental and social side-effects...  In China, India and Bangladesh, once prosperous rivers have been destroyed by factory wastewater discharges; they have now become biological dead zones full of carcinogenic chemicals. Additionally, the tiny plastic microfibers that fall from synthetic clothing during the laundry process are flooding our water supply and food chain.”

According to current Global Apparel Industrial Statistics the US ranks the highest in the world when it comes to money spent on apparel, $351.35 billion annually. China, with over four times as many people, is second with $313.82 billion, and India is third at $101.39 billion. It is estimated that the total amount spent in the global apparel industry in 2024 will reach $1.79 trillion. 

A counter Slow Fashion movement, a takeoff from the slow food movement, recognizes the environmental and human costs involved in the manufacture of cheap, mass produced clothing, and has been advocating for an alternative mindset and lifestyle. They urge consumers to focus on timeworn values like creativity, durability, sustainability and justice when it comes to their clothing choices.

More and more voices are urging us to take an inventory of what's in our wardrobes, noting both the excessive number of garments we own and all of the impoverished countries identified on our clothing labels. And then to begin practicing more repair, refurbishing and reusing of our clothing, along with buying more sparingly and only from sources that reflect our values.

Some may argue that having clothing manufactured in far off places like Bangladesh and Pakistan and in nearby impoverished countries like Guatemala and Honduras, at least provides employment for people in poverty, in spite of it often being produced in unsafe factories and under sweatshop conditions. But wouldn’t additional investments in the production of goods needed by their own citizens be far better? And ironically, huge quantities of our castoffs end up being baled and shipped for resale in some of these same countries, further devastating their economies.

A related issue that merits attention is the jewelry industry, which according to Jewelry Market statistics is valued at $69 billion in the United States, around 20% of the total global jewelry market. As someone who grew up in a faith community that avoided this kind of ornamentation, and supprted values like simplicity, modesty and economy, I can appreciate this expression of a simpler "slow fashion" life choice, and find myself asking, “What would a 21st century Jesus wear?"

In a 1927 rally for independence in India, Gandhi raised over 90,000 rupees from a gathering of poor citizens of that country who contributed some of the few treasures they had, their prized jewelry, for a cause they believed in, the liberation of their people from colonial rule. 

This kind of generosity could be liberating for us all, an example we should all pay attention to.

Is The Virginia Parole Board In Violation Of SB 1361 Passed By The 2023 General Assembly?

Jonathan White, a model prisoner for 43 years, is appealing 
his recent parole denial.

I have corresponded with Jonathan White for over a decade and visited him twice when he was at Augusta Correctional Center, which was recently closed. He is now at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center, recently taken over by the Virginia Department of Corrections after having been Virginia's only privately run prison.

With his permission, I post his appeal for reconsideration of his recent parole denial:

A STATEMENT OF APPEAL/RECONSIDERATION OF NOT GRANT DECISION

On July 24 I was notified of the July 17 decision of the Virginia Parole Board to "Not Grant" my release.

The reasons stated were:
* Serious nature and circumstance of your offense(s).
* The Board concludes that you should serve more of your sentence prior to release on parole.
* Release at this time would diminish seriousness of crime.

On April 18 parole board examiner Ms. Tina Bowen conducted a video conference parole interview to review my case for discretionary and geriatric conditional parole.

 
In the course of this interview Ms. Bowen noted that in accordance with the current Virginia Parole Board Recommendation Scale for Parole Examiners I scored a "highly" recommended assessment score rating of +5 and/or 6 on the recommendation scale, with 5 meaning "Leaning towards a Recommend" and 6 meaning "Recommend." Also my Compass Risk Assessment Score indicated a LOW risk for recidivism or violence, and that there was no noted opposition of my release to parole on file.

Ms. Bowen felt strongly that I should be granted a second chance this time and her recommendation to the Board was to "grant" parole. She stated she was proud of a) my accomplishments and my accountability, b) my remaining infraction free and having a community support network and home plan, and c) my continued vocational training while incarcerated and the pending opportunity to advance my vocational skills upon release. Also that in the forty-three years of my incarceration as a first offender I have been an exceptionally model citizen. 

It is clear that the Board's primary mission is to release those candidates for parole those "whose release is compatible with public safety." It is also clear that the impressions gained by the parole examiner during the interview and the resulting examiner's recommendation are extremely important in the decision-making and voting process of the Board, especially since I have not been afforded a in-person or virtual video conference parole hearing interview by a current Parole Board Members in accordance with the Virginia General Assembly's passage of Senate Bill SB1361 and in accordance with Virginia Code 53.1-136 and Virginia Code 53.1-155.

This legislation, enacted in May 2023 requires parole review hearings to include a live interview of the prisoner, conducted in-person, by video conference or by telephone, and prohibits the Board from granting or denying parole to any prisoner who has not had such an interview by a Board member within the prior year. It also requires the Board to discuss and debate each decision at a meeting at which a majority of the Board members are present. It further requires that each board member identify the reason(s) for their decision. The petitioner is then to be provided a written statement of the reasons behind each board member's vote, according to this bill, which went into effect July 1, 2024.

The decision to not grant my parole was decided on July 17, 2024, so the Board's failure to provide me the due process required constitutes a violation of Virginia Code 53.1-136 law.

Therefore I ask the Board for an appeal of reconsideration of their "not grant" decision and to allow me my due process rights to a fair consideration for my parole release. I respectfully acknowledge the concerns of Board members and will fully observe the conditions of my parole.

Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan Darryl White
VaDOC No. #1161021

Here is the text of the amendment as passed last year:

Senate Bill: SB 1361

VIRGINIA ACTS OF ASSEMBLY -- Approved: May 12, 2023

Virginia Parole Board / Commonwealth of Virginia.

An Act to amend and reenact Section(s) 2.2-3703, 53.1-136, 53.1-154, and 53.1-154, and 53.1-155 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Parole Board; eligibility determinations; reports.

Enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia: May 12, 2023.

Code of Virginia, Section 53.1- 136. "Powers and duties of Board; notice of release of certain inmates."

In addition to the other powers and duties imposed upon the Board by this article, the Board shall:

9. Ensure that each person eligible for parole receives a timely and through review of his/her suitability for release on parole, including a review of any relevant post-sentencing information. If parole is denied, the basis for the denial of parole shall be in writing and shall give specific individualized reasons for such denial to such inmate, and

10. Convene a public meeting, either in person or via video conference, when conducting the final deliberation and vote regarding whether the Board will grant parole to a prisoner. The prisoner being considered for parole or his attorney shall be permitted to attend such meeting either, in the Board's discretion, in person or via video conference. The victim shall be permitted to attend and participate in such meeting either, in the Board's discretion, in person or via video or phone conference or to provide written or recorded testimony. No decision to grant discretionary parole shall be made by the Board unless such decision was discussed and debated at a meeting at which a majority of the Board members were present. Whether the Board grants or denies discretionary parole to an inmate, each Board member shall identify his/her reasoning for such decision at the time such member's vote is cast.

The provisions of this act shall become effective on July 1, 2024.

Note: The Virginia Parole Board is not above the law, and must obey the letter of the law regarding parole policies just like any other citizen, resident, person, or parolee in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

These are the conditions governing persons released on parole as established by the Code of Virginia Section: 53.1.157.

1. I will obey all Municipal, County, State and Federal laws and ordinances.

2. I will report any arrests, including traffic tickets, within 3 days to the District Parole Office.

3. I will maintain regular employment and support myself and legal dependents to the best of my ability. I will notify my Parole Officer promptly of any changes in my employment.

4. I will obtain the written permission of my Parole Officer before buying or operating a motor vehicle.

5. I will submit in person or by mail a written report at the end of each month to my Parole Officer on forms furnished by him/her and will report as otherwise instructed.

6. I will permit my Parole Officer to visit my home or place of employment.

etc.