Are They "Weeds" or Uninvited Wonders?

Check the photos below before leaving commenting on the question:

1) Some morning glory vines decorating the pole limas on our garden trestle. 

2) A volunteer sunflower welcoming us at the south end of our garden plot. 

3) A 12' tall sunflower, also uninvited, standing guard at the north end. 

4) An unidentified wonder standing like a sentinel at the front of our house (I finally removed it due to the fear our neighbors might object).

But think about it. What is a weed but another amazing creation just showing up uninvited and unannounced?

 

Justice-Themed Film Festival Set For 9/23-26

This month's  DN-R Valley Justice column was written by David Smith, an incarceration survivor whose InThrive organization is doing this local event. There will also be exhibits of art work by people in our jails and prisons. Please help us spread the word. 

How were your ideas about our justice system formed? For many of us it was through scripted dramas like Law and Order, movies like Shawshank Redemption, reality TV series like Love After Lock Up, or our favorite true crime podcast–not the reality of what’s happening in our own communities. 

Each time we consume this media we’re letting our narrative about incarceration be shaped not by reality but by entertainment executives who want you to keep watching so they can sell more ads and make more money. The stories are compelling and the drama isreal, but they know they’re not portraying reality, they’re creating entertainment. And in the process  of creating entertainment they warp our understanding of what it means to be impacted by incarceration.

What if we understood the impact of incarceration not through the lens elite mediaexecutives but through the stories of people who actually lived it?

The Inthrive Film Festival is the only touring film festival to celebrate the voices and talents of actual incarceration survivors. Started in Richmond, VA, in 2023, the Inthrive Film Festival creates spaces for incarceration survivors to share their stories through film and art so the community can experience them first hand, be challenged by what they see, entertained by what they experience, and become connected to people in their communities striving to make a difference in the lives of people impacted by incarceration. 

We seek out films from around America that tell stories you won’t hear anywhere else. These films are just as entertaining and moving as what you can stream on your tablet or watch on TV but instead of being made by people who have never experienced incarceration they celebrate the voices and talents of incarceration survivors.

So what happens when we listen to people who have been incarcerated tell their stories on their terms? What happens when we give them the camera, the pen, the mic to share their real drama? We experience stories of trauma and overcoming, pain and resilience, sadness and joy. And, most importantly, we gain a truer understanding of what our criminal justice system is like and what it means to survive incarceration.

These are the powerful, moving stories you’ll discover when you come out to the Inthrive Film Festival-Shenandoah Valley presented by the Valley Justice Coalition from September 23-26. You’ll experience scripted dramas that show us the real life struggles of youth and others in our justice system and inspire us to dream of better ways to practice justice in America. You’ll learn from documentaries that challenge our views on treating addiction and show us what’s possible after incarceration when we support people in reentry. And you will see art made by local currently incarcerated men and women. 

Beyond the films and art, you can meet people and organizations working to make the Shenandoah Valley safer and be part of the conversation with local civic leaders and incarceration survivors as we discuss how we can remove barriers to successful reentry and reimagine former carceral spaces here in the Shenandoah Valley.

Are you interested in experiencing what stories about our prison and justice system are like when told by people who have survived it? Do you want to be part of the conversation on how we can improve the Shenandoah Valley for everyone? 

Then come and join the Inthrive Film Festival for films, community, and discussion at Eastern Mennonite University on Wednesday, September 23; Mary Baldwin University on Thursday, September 24; Bridgewater College on Friday, September 25; and the public forums at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (10-11:45 am at the Detwiler auditorium) and the Divine Unity Community Church (3-5 pm at 1680 Country Club Road) on Saturday, September 26. 

Thanks to the financial support of local sponsors like Park Rose Apartments, Bridgewater College, Cook Attorneys, Hometown Realty Group, Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community and the Park View Federal Credit Union, all of the Inthrive Film Festival events are free. We hope you’ll join us to experience powerful stories, connect with amazing people, and discover new ways to make the Shenandoah Valley a better community for everyone.

Full schedule and listing of films at: https://inthrivefilmfestival.org/shenandoah-valley. 

An Appeal For Prison Reform From The Inside

Charles Zellers has a stellar record of behavior over his nearly forty years of incarceration,and has been a positive role mentor for many younger incarcerated men at Buckingham and now at the Deerfield Correctional Center. Since he will likely not be eligible to serve on the Governor's Community Partnership Council on Corrections, I am posting some of his practical concerns here.

1). Remove the Keefe Group, LLC, from Commissary and Personal Property and allow Walmart, Sam's Club, etc. to bid on the commisary contract. Those who will provide inmates commissary and personal property at the lowest possible prices, lower than Keefe's.

2). Offer the following items on commissary and personal property:
> 1/8" = 1'0" scale drafting templates
> 3-ring binder
> Sharpie Pocket Style Highlighters, Assorted Fluorescent, chisel tip
> carbon paper
> healthier food items
> Reeves Sketching pencils - 12 artist grade - graphite
> Sharpie Highlighters Jumbo - assorted fluorescent colors
> wireless 2-way Headphone Splitter

3). Correctional Centers should be all about getting basic education, and should function as normal grades 1-12 schools. No one should be in regular school over 12 consecutive years. Once the inmate receives a GED, the inmate's case manager should look to see where the inmate will be released to, the businesses in that area that need help, or transfer the inmate to the facility that could provide him or her with the job skills needed to be released in that area.

4). State Prisons (Red Onion & Wallens Ridge): These two prisons should be used for the Incorrigible inmates only. Those inmates who refuse to follow their treatment plan such as obtaining a GED, Vocational Trade, Self-help Programs, etc. Housed in a separate housing unit shpuld be those with life and no possibility of parole and are willing to work.

5). Undercover Bosses: Insert undercover bosses into each VADOC facility secretively with only VADOC's Head of Security, Director, and other heads knowing. No one at the facility should know. Not even the Warden because they could be doing illegal things too.

6). Undercover Inmates: Selected inmates could have their reading or prescription glasses equipped with cameras to record the wrongdoings of staff.

7). Repeal Code of Virginia Section 53.1-190. Hold Account that authorizes VADOC to withhold a maximum of $25 from each inmates account until released. Move $25 to a new High-Yield Savings account for each inmate.

8). Repeal Code of Virginia Section 53.1-43.1. Savings Account that authorizes VADOC to withhold a maximum of $1,000 from each inmates account until released. Move all up to $1,000 to a new High-Yield Savings Account for each inmate.

9). High-Yield Savings Account (Fixed 6% APY tax free): Open each inmate their personal high-yield savings account that pays a fixed rate 6% APY that is tax free. 10% of all inmate received funds shall go into this account. The inmate can only remove funds from this account if s/he has a minimum of $25,000, is released from prison, has a medical code that will not allow the inmate to work any longer or has a terminal medical diagnosis.

10). Inmate Pay Increase (COV 53.1-32.1(c)(5)):
> unskilled pay increase $0.27 to $1.35
> semiskilled pay increase $0.35 to $1.75
> skilled pay increase $0.45 to $2.25
> ADA/Caregivers, Group Facilitators, Peer Mentors, Recovery Specialists and SAFETE Aides from $1.00 to $3.00 per hour

> Certified Peer Recovery Specialists and Vocational Aides/Tutors from $1.25 to $3.25 per hour

(these increases barely reflect the inflation rate since the current wages were set)

11). In-person and Video Visits: Every Inmate housed within the VADOC shall be allowed in-person and video visits with any immediate family member. This will include niece, nephew, great niece and nephew as long as they are with their legal parent or guardian. This includes all with barrier crimes or who have to be on the registry upon release. Those with sex offenses will be released one day too.

12). Close Marion Correctional Center: I have heard so many horror stories about how the staff at Marion C. C. abuses the inmates, I believe it should have an undercover boss and an undercover inmate housed there to investigate for 6 months to a year.

13). Governor Abigail Spanberger should work at reducing the VADOC population: Virginia prisons are overcrowded and understaffed leading to decompensations when left unmonitored. The inadequate training and unprofessionalism allows manipulations and extortions that lead to a humanitarian crisis.

14). VADOC is not protecting its disabled inmates. State law requires disabled inmates to be housed in a manner that provides for their Safety and Security. COV 53.1-266 and Virginia Administrative Code 6 VAC 15-45-530.

15). Online Services: Allow VADOC inmates to purchase online their local hometown newspaper or the one where their home plan is located.

16). Online Services: Unlimited access to career employment, vocational and job skill training apps and instructional videos. For example: Business and Office Management, College courses, AutoCAD, Computer-Aided Design, Drafting, Modeling and Rendering, Landscaping, Computer Game Design, Educational Games, Personal Finance, Adobe (Photoshop, Reader, PDF, PDF Layering), Technical Writing, Website Design, House Building, Surveying, Solar System Design and Installation, etc.

17). How To App: You type in what you want to know how to do and one or more How to videos pulls up and you watch them. FREE for ALL inmates.

18). VADOC Television: ALL VADOC Prisons shall have the following educational television stations and video series such as:
> Dirty Jobs
> Discovery
> HGTV
> How It Is Made
> Made In Virginia
> Modern Marvels
> MSNBC
> This Old House
> TVLAND.

Seven White Men Canonized As Great Leaders

This meme by Faith Over Fear Motivation, a pro-administration group, reminds me of this definition of canonization, "To place someone on a high pedestal, treating them as if they can do no wrong or praising them as a hero."

One of the marks of Christian nationalism is the elevation of people in power to a status of near reverence while ignoring the Bible's warning against placing undue trust in mere mortals. 

Jesus and the Hebrew prophets remind us that in God's upside-down empire it is those who are seen as lesser who are truly the greatest, as in, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but those who desire to become great among you, let them be your servants."

Here are just a few of a multitude of examples of everyday, extraordinary servants whose lives represent the kind of greatness unmatched by most people in positions of power.

Ruth Yoder Stauffer left her farm home near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the early '50's to enroll in Goshen College in Indiana to become a nurse, and never looked back. She spent her entire life in unselfish service as a nurse and a nursing instructor in places like Peru, Vietnam (during the height of the Vietnam War), and at Hesston College (KS). 

Laurence Sauder, a beloved member of our community for most of his adult life, made an indelible mark as a pastor, Bible teacher, and as the builder of many of the housing units in Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community's Park Village. We were privileged to be his and his wife Evelyn's neighbors for the last years of his fruitful and productive life. Laurence was one of the kindest people ever.

Rachel Stoltzfus and her husband Robert offered hospitality to scores of international students at nearby Eastern Mennonite University. As a young adult Rachel pictured herself as accepting  some foreign mission assignment, but instead had the world coming to her door, including during her many years as a widow. At her memorial service, people from far and near paid tribute to how they had been blessed by her kindness as a beloved "mom Rachel." 

Michael Cooley is someone I learned to know and appreciate as a pastor of a sister house church congregation near Edinburg. He gave up a lucrative career to pursue his passion, that of collaborating with farmers around the world in finding ways of increasing crop yields and easing hunger. He and his wife are currently doing amazing work through the Equipping Farmers International organization.

When Did We See You Homeless Or Hungry Or Thirsty Or A Stranger Or Naked Or Sick Or In Prison And Not See You Were Taken Care Of?

According to Jesus' words in Matthew 25, the key questions on our Final Exam will not be about orthodox beliefs but whether our beliefs resulted in seeing, and responding to, the needs of God's children. Photo by Mennonite Central Committee, one of my favorite charities.

The following are just of the few of the many emergency relief and development organizations that appear on my Facebook page every day, followed by some of the images associated with their appeals. Maybe this is at least a partial answer as to the question, "When did you see me...?

World Food Program USA

Catholic Relief Services

Global Refuge

Human Develpment Fund

Share The Meal

Action Against Hunger

Doctors Without Borders

CARE.org

International Rescue Committee

Oxfam America

h

Today's post is not meant to create guilt but to remind us of our many opportunities love our neighbors far and near just as we love and care for ourselves and our loved ones. In the end, we will not be judged not so much by whether we have shared enough, but by how much we have needlessly kept and spent on ourselves that could have aided our hungry and homeless world neighbors. 

God wants everyone to have enough. 

https://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-modest-proposal-for-11th-commandment.html

A Prisoner, 67, Commends Parole Board In Today's DN-R "Justice Matters" Column

Jonathan D. White, 67, has been infraction-free since his
incarceration at age 21, but like so many others, has been
denied parole year after year. Meanwhile he has earned a
degree from Liberty University and has taken every
possible vocational training and personal growth class
available to him.

On July 20, Gov. Abigail Spanberger reflected on her first six months in office. Following a challenging start in the General Assembly, where she opposed both new marijuana legislation and a data center project, the governor announced a new parole board on March 4, 2026. 

On that same day three representatives of the Valley Justice Coalition (VJC) were in Richmond to take part in a special meeting with Joseph Walters, the newly appointed Director of the Virginia Department of Corrections (VaDOC) and members of his staff to discuss the Department’s agenda to improve safety and increase operational transparency within prison facilities.

Subsequently, Shannon Dion, the new Parole Board chair, invited these same VJC members to a Zoom conference with the rest of her board. The meeting served as an introduction to the new members and included a Q&A session addressing the significant backlog of cases inherited from the previous administration.

During the Youngkin administration and under the leadership of the former chair, few eligible and deserving offenders were granted parole, leaving a substantial volume of unfinished work for the new board. They are currently sorting through cases to prioritize decisions for those dating back to September 2025, as in, "Which bad apple do we keep, and which do we release?” The entire parole-eligible population, those incarcerated before parole was abolished in 1995, is back in the "apple barrel" once again.

The newly-appointed VPB has been in training since its official appointment on March 6. Cases are now even more backlogged because they didn't have the positive assistance for transition from the previous board. As a result, not a single parole was granted from January 1 through March while the new board was gearing up for its work.

Here is the trail so far: In April, two men refused their parole because they were "discharging" their sentence and did not want to be placed under any conditions of parole whatsoever. They signed the PB16 Parole Refusal Form and several weeks later were released with no obligations to any parole conditions in the Commonwealth. In reality, the debt they owed was paid.

In May, a man and a woman were granted a "compassionate release" because they were terminally ill. Death at home for these parolees was mercy to them and their family members.

Also in May, out of 12 revocation hearings from the backlogged cases, eight were continued back to their previous parole status. The other four were sent back into the VaDOC.

According to the VPB website, there were three persons granted parole in June, with four others given parole revocations. Two others had their sentences discharged, and 10 parole violators were returned to prison.

The July numbers have been far more encouraging. On July 9, public hearings conducted by the board resulted in five grants and one denial. Two of the grants were for men at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center, one of Virginia’s three Model Initiative Facilities (others are Dillwyn and Buckingham Correctional Centers).

At last week’s public hearings (July 23), all 10 deserving persons reviewed were granted parole. Of the two released at Lawrenceville, one is in my pod and has been a part of the "Second Look Parole Preparation Program” that I and another prisoner co-facilitate. It aims to prepare people for their review hearings and help them become productive citizens both in prison and upon release.

We commend the Spanberger-appointed parole board for responsibly fulfilling their mission statement, to “grant parole or conditional release to inmates whose release is compatible with public safety." This is in the best interest of every citizen of the Commonwealth.

My remaining question is personal, “Can people like me, who have maintained a model prison record for 45 years, and who have become a mentor and role model for countless other incarcerated persons, expect to be released?”

Note: The Daily News-Record publishes a Valley Justice Coalition "Justice Matters" column on the last Friday of each month.

A Modest Proposal For An 11th Commandment

  • Eleven • 

"You shall not claim the right to more than enough as long as any of God's children anywhere have less than enough." 

I can already hear some serious objections to the above. How dare we add to the sacred Ten Words given at Mount Sinai? And does this even align with what the Bible actually teaches?

A defense:

1. Moses, the great lawgiver and leader of God's people, would surely affirm this, noting that the daily food God provided in the wilderness was aways to be gathered and shared equally. He would also remind us of God's commands to release people of their debts every seventh year and to restore land to their original owners after every 49th year, the year of Jubilee.

2. The Hebrew prophets would surely add their Amen in light of the importance they placed on justice for the poor and the dispossessed, and in light of God's judgement on those who disregard the needs of orphans, widows and refugees in need.

3. The psalmist and the writers of the Proverbs would point to some of the many passages that call for generosity and justice for all people.

4. Jesus would affirm how this resonates with Kingdom economics, and with God's will being done everywhere on earth as it is in heaven. 

5. The apostles and first century church leaders from many nations would embrace this as aligning with believers making sure there was "no needy person among them," and with Macedonian churches called to raise funds for the needs of people in far off Judea.

Like it or not, to agree to anything counter to this commandment would be to claim an inherent right to better treatment for some of God's children than others. What Divine Creator and Sovereign would ever consider that as being OK?

Having said all this, I realize that we at our house are far from faithfully reflecting all the life changes this commandment calls for. But as stewards rather than owners of God's wealth we must begin by experiencing this fundamental change of mind and heart, and by repenting of our claim to a right to more than enough while others have less than enough.

We all know God has no favorites, period. Whether white, brown, North American, native or foreign, enough is all we are entitled to.

Should Voters Be Required To Pass A Poll Test?

With tongue firmly in cheek, let me propose having every US voter take a simple True or False test this fall to prove their mental fitness for responsibly carrying out their "civic duty." The test would require an affirmative answer to each of the following four statements, as follows:

T  F  1. Donald Trump won the 2016 election, as did many candidates of both parties, under the watchful eye of the second Obama administration, as duly certified by professional election officials in fifty states.

T  F  2. Joe Biden won the 2020 election, as did many candidates of both parties, under the watchful eye of the first Trump administration and as duly certified by virtually the same  professional election officials in fifty states.

T  F  3. Donald Trump won the 2024 election, as did many candidates of both parties, under the watchful eye of the first Biden administration and as duly certified by virtually the same professional election officials in fifty states.

T  F  4. I affirm that under the watchful eye of the second Trump administration, and as duly certified by virtually the same professional election officials in fifty states, that I will accept the upcoming midterm election results as reflecting the will of the people.

The following link takes you to a literacy test for potential voters used in Louisiana until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Like similar tests required in other southern states these were typically arbitrarily graded, so the slightest error could disqualifying an African Americans from voting. 

https://sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com/.../Voter%20Test%20LA.pdf

Here's a link to some of my thoughts about voting: http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2013/10/would-jesus-vote.html

Letter To The DN-R: "Not Fit For Man Or Beast"

City Dogs Boarding and Playcare, Roanoke, Virginia

Buckingham Correctional Center, Dillwyn, Virginia

A July 9 article in the Roanoke Times highlights a criminal investigation into one of the city's kennels where dogs were found suffering from heat distress. I couldn't help thinking of the hundreds of men and women in at least eight of the Commonwealth's aging concrete prisons suffering in similar or even worse ways. A friend at Buckingham Correctional Center recently wrote, "We are cooking here... Extra pod fans do nothing but blow hot air. Cells are like ovens, with the metal on our bunks and lockers warm to the touch. We wake up and our sheets are not damp but wet."

According to the Vera Institute of Justice, "Temperatures inside jails and prisons can often exceed 100 degrees. The heat index can reach as high as 150 degrees. ...Exposure to high heat alone can lead to increases in aggression, suicide, poor cognitive functioning, and overall poor mental health. What’s more, over 20 percent of people incarcerated in U.S. prisons have a mental illness, and an aging prison population means that many individuals are suffering from medical conditions..."

While I share everyone's concerns about animals being treated humanely, we should surely treat our fellow human beings with equal regard, even those charged with crimes. The VADOC is, after all, a Department of Correction, not of mere punishment. 

Let’s Remember We Are Also World Citizens

Wikipedia photo of flags at the United Nations, in alphabetical order.

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

a song of peace for lands afar and mine

This is my home, the country where my heart is:

here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

but other hearts in other lands are beating

with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

and sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight, too, and clover,

and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

So hear my song, O God of all the nations,

a song of peace for their land and for mine.

Lloyd Stone  (1934 hymn, sung to the tune Finlandia)

Our nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations will certainly focus on the kind of individualism and patriotism that has made the US one of the most powerful countries in the world.

There is much to celebrate about our nation, especially its ideals of “liberty and justice for all,” and "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” There is of course much to lament about the darker parts of our history as well, especially our mistreatment of native Americans and of African slaves. 

As we reflect on our past and dream about our future, this is also a good time to reflect on what it means to be citizens of the larger world. We are, after all, fellow residents of one fragile but wonderful planet we share with our biologically-related cousins all over the globe.

Our faiths affirm that we have a common origin and form one interdependent human family, and that we share with each other the responsibility for the care and maintenance of spaceship earth. Our founders made the bold claim that all men (i.e., all human beings), “are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” We all breathe the same air, and are dependent on the same soil, water and weather.

We aren’t born with that sense of interdependence. As infants we are totally egocentric, and see everything and everyone as existing solely for our benefit. Over time humans become more ethnocentric, seeing ourselves as special members of our families, congregations, communities, and nations.

Our next challenge is to become more “cosmocentric,” seeing ourselves, and seeing our nation, as an inseparable part of a larger, interdependent world family. Many of us believe that God not only created the cosmos, but so loved the whole world (kosmos) that God’s only begotten was offered to redeem it. In Jesus’s first sermon he announced the reign of God had arrived, a heaven-governed kingdom on earth not bound by time or by artificial borders. The Christian observance of Pentecost celebrates the birth of a nation of nations, a people from all over the world who pray and work daily for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Justin Martyr (ca. 100-165), described how “followers of the Way” related to former aliens and former enemies: “We who formerly … valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now bring what we have into a common stock, and communicate to everyone in need; we who hated and destroyed one another, and on account of their different manners would not live with [people] of a different tribe, now… live familiarly with them, and pray for our enemies.”

The Hebrew prophets proclaimed a reign of worldwide harmony, justice and peace as coming not in some future far-off heaven, but right here on planet earth:

They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:2-4

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, and a little child will lead them.. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:6, 9

The battle bow will be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nation; his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. Zechariah 9:10

Methodist theologian and author Georgia Harkness wrote a third verse to Stone’s hymn that has become my prayer for our 250th anniversary:

This is my prayer, O God of all earth’s kingdoms,

Your kingdom come; on earth your will be done.

O God, be lifted up till all shall serve you,

and hearts united learn to love as one.

So hear my prayer, O God of all the nations.

Myself I give you; let your will be done

Summer Edition Of A Newsletter For Prisoners

The Parole Board's mission is to assess an individual's readiness for release based on whether they have been fully "corrected" and rehabilitated during their Department of Corrections stay, and not to base their judgment on the seriousness of the crime or on the wishes of the original prosecutor or the family members of the victim. Victims and their families deserve every possible form of restitution, but not mere  revenge.

 HARDTIME VIRGINIA Summer 2026 Vol. 11, No. 2

 An occasional newsletter by and for the incarcerated, Harvey Yoder, editor 

What’s Up With The New Parole Board?
     Most of us were hopeful that the newly appointed Parole Board sworn in in March would be more generous in offering release to deserving men and women in prison. In its first official (April) report, however, it reported on the cases of only two persons, neither of them interested in parole, apparently determining they would be better off waiting until they were to have a clean discharge. In May the Board noted eight persons being continued on parole and on four having their parole revoked, with only two releases granted, each because of a terminal illness.  
     While this may seem puzzling, my understanding after talking with others with the same concerns is that the board is getting themselves set up with a process for making the best possible decisions while receiving a lot of new information to train themselves, as none of them have ever done this before. I know they’ve been interviewing incarcerated folks, just not making final decisions until they have a better understanding. They had also requested that the full implementation of the HB1030 bill creating objective criteria on which to base a release be in place  a year later to give them more time to get that into their system and to fully comply with its provisions.
    The reality of having a whole new board after the last one only said 'no' is that it requires five new people to learn what to do without anyone having any prior experience, and it has taken even more time because they are actually making a point to receive input from advocates and returning citizens in a way that has never been done before. 
    Three representatives from our Valley Justice Coalition, for example, were able to meet with members of the board for an hour last month via Zoom to share our concerns. So there is reason to believe a little delay now is better than a bunch of rushed decisions. With their jobs and the administration's reputation on the line, they will more likely resort to 'no' when hurried.

Governor Spanberger’s Press Conference Offers New Hope
      In a June 23 news conference with DOC Director Joseph Walters and Secretary of Public Safety Stanley Meadors, Governor Spanberger noted significant improvements in DOC stats on incidences of violence, lockdowns, drug overdoses, and the use of solitary confinement. She also used this occasion to announce the formation of a Governor's Community Partnership Council on Corrections https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evnFkzYhed8.
     A major issue she did not address, however, was the need to reduce the number of persons incarcerated in the commonwealth, numbers which are causing a strain on a system lacking in necessary financial and personnel resources.

VDOC Posts “Second Chance Stories” on YouTube
     Three of us from the Valley Justice Coalition recently met with DOC Director Joseph Walters and nine of his staff for a conversation about prison reform. One of the ideas we suggested was that VDOC create a website highlighting the successes of individual “graduates” from the Commonwealth’s “School of Corrections.” None of us really expected this to be taken seriously, so we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Walters almost immediately directed a member of his staff to work on this. The result is 20 video-recordings by incarceration survivors, stories that inspire hope and will hopefully add to the public’s willingness to support second chances.

From The Editor’s Mailbag
• David Annarelli at Haynesville had a piece published in the recent Georgetown University’s American Criminal Law Review. He also has frequent commentaries on prisonradio.org and has his own website at https://davidannarelli.substack.com/
• Jeff Smith at Buckingham has drafted a bill to amend the code of Virginia by adding a section establishing a Second Look Resentencing Review for individuals serving life sentences for non-homocide offenses.
• David Carmichael at Lawrenceville has also drafted a bill, one that would provide for new work release and furlough provisions for deserving people, noting that  people who are able to enter society with a portfolio are far less likely to recidivate after their release.
• Charles Zellers, Sr. at Deerfield is seeking someone on the outside to build a small dwelling on a rural property his sisters have acquired in Lunenberg County.  He hopes to develop a community of homes on the property for incarceration survivors.
• Steve Colosi at Buckingham has created a “Roadmap to a Successful Parole Interview,”emphasizing factors like maintaining good posture and eye contact, accepting responsibility, expressing remorse, being precise and to the point in answering questions, and avoiding playing the victim or assuming the Board will be persuaded by stressing your family’s need for you or how much you deserve release.
• Shawn Weneta, a formerly incarcerated individual and a professional consultant, provided his Richmond Times column about the looming crisis in healthcare costs the DOC faces with a rapidly growing geriatric prison.

• William Thorpe, who has spent years in solitary confinement and has been transferred to a Texas prison, is advocating for a mandatory review of all sentences after a determined number of years.

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

VJC's June DN-R "Justice Matters" Column

Jury Service Is Extraordinary Power for Ordinary People

By Matthew P. Cavedon

Most Americans dread getting a jury summons in the mail. As a lawyer, I know my friends and family members’ first question: “How do I get out of this?” Little do  most of them realize that this little piece of paper is an invitation to participate in one of the most important responsibilities of citizenship, especially in tight knit communities like those of western Virginia.

The Constitution protects a lot of rights and asks pretty little of us in return. We can certainly serve in the military, honor the flag, and vote for those who make the laws. Bu the only civic responsibility that is a true legal duty is jury service. It’s also the one thing that immediately makes government belong to the people.

Participating in elections is important, but when you go to the polls, yours is just one of thousands of votes. At the national level, it may be just one among tens of millions. When an American is called to sit on a jury, their vote determines the verdict.

Criminal cases require verdicts to be unanimous. That means every juror must come to an agreement as to whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty. Further, judges will assure each juror that they should never give up an honest conviction for the mere sake of getting along with the others.

This is a remarkable promise the Founders made for the people. When the laws actually threaten someone’s liberty or property, the ultimate judgment call is left in the hands of twelve ordinary members of the community. Lawmakers, judges and lawyers are important. But it’s truck drivers and teachers, homemakers and store managers who have the final say over who goes to prison.

We’re celebrating America’s 250th birthday this year, and that’s a great occasion for remembering the brave decisions of jurors throughout our history. They’ve used their power to protect liberty and change the country for the better. For example, before the Civil War, Congress made it a federal crime to help people escape from slavery. In 1851, the federal government charged Boston abolitionists with setting Shadrach Minkins—formerly enslaved in Virginia—free after his recapture up north. The abolitionists’ guilt could not have been clearer as a factual matter. But the jury stood up and refused to convict them. The brave stand of these ordinary jurors defended dignity against tyranny.

Serving on a jury remains meaningful today, even when criminal charges were properly brought against a wrongdoer. Federal judge Roy Altman recently told the story of presiding over an emotionally intense murder trial. Afterward, he met with the jurors.

One, a quiet elderly woman who had come to this country from Haiti, slowly stood up using her cane. She gave the judge a hug, then explained that while she had moved to America seeking a better life, she had learned something new through serving. Her  country gave her more than just opportunity, she said: it trusted her to be smart and wise enough to decide such an important matter. It was a memory she said she would carry with her for the rest of her days.

This woman understood something profound about democracy: it’s not just about deciding who gets to make the laws. It’s about deciding how they are applied. That work, too, belongs to all of us. The conscience of the community matters as much for freedom as does any other constitutional right.

But it can only have that role if we the people exercise it. Next time you get that piece of paper in the mail summoning you to jury service, don’t think of it as something to avoid. See it as the chance to seek justice for your neighbors and your country. It may cost you some days away from work, but it’ll enrich your sense of what it means to belong to the community.

Matthew Cavedon is a criminal justice lawyer who works at the Cato Institute, and wrote this for the Valley Justice Coalition's monthly column in the Daily News-Record/. You can learn more about the power of jury service at a website he curates, YourVerdictCounts.org.

Celebrating And Tending Our Small Food Forest

 

photo by my good friend and fellow gardener Daryl Byler

Caring for our 10'x 60' garden at VMRC's Park Village is one of the more therapeutic pleasures I enjoy in my semi-retirement.

The rabbit fence you see consists of discarded window screens salvaged from renovation projects around the Village. It works well to protect the peas, lettuce, and the various kinds of beans in that end of the garden, 

Down the middle of this area is a five-foot woven wire fence where the sugar snap peas grow that we are enjoying this time of year. These are planted in March to give them a head start over the pole lima and green beans I plant right next to them in early May. Since the peas are harvested early, the pole beans simply take their place for harvesting later in the season. 

The unfenced end of the garden is for tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe and Swiss chard. They can all be close together since the caged tomatoes are growing vertically while the squash and cantaloupe vines cover the horizontal space.

Every year some volunteer plants appear along with the planted ones, especially potatoes and sunflowers. We mostly leave such visitors undisturbed as long as they are not crowding out any of their neighboring plants. And we apply generous amounts of compost and shredded leaf mulch around all of the varied companion plants, a practice that largely eliminates weeds, provides needed fertilizer, improves soil quality and greatly reduces the need for irrigating the garden (But we were so grateful for the rain we've been blessed with in the past 24-hours!).

The overall result resembles a kind of food forest rather than a manicured set of cultivated rows of fresh produce. But the joy it brings to our table, and frequently to those of our neighbors, is beyond words. 

Glory be to God for dappled things...

...All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him. 

- from Gerard Manley Hopkins' Pied Beauty

The Surprising Ability Procrastinators May Lack

One of the more quoted lines in Covey's best selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, is, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

In workshops I've led on time management, I make the point that procrastinators (including myself) actually need to improve our "putting off" skills. In other words, we need to get better at putting off whatever hinders our focusing on a "main thing," the priority activity requiring our attention at a given time.

    

We are never simply doing nothing. Even when dozing, daydreaming, or mindlessly scrolling on Facebook we are doing something that occupies our time and attention. And of course even taking a nap, going for a walk or just vegetating can at times be necessary "main things" that are restorative and life giving, and can actually help us be more productive.

         

But whenever we have a deadline to meet, or any important task to complete, we may need to get better at "putting off" whatever distractions are getting in the way. 

     

Here's a suggested plan:

     

1) Create a daily time budget. In the Hebrew Bible, a day begins at sunset, which could be a good time to review the day just ending and to prepare for the day just beginning, one in which getting a good night's rest is one of the first "main things."

     

2) Upon rising, review the plan for the day, making sure there is ample time allotted for appropriate breaks and for unexpected events, but also for priority time for undivided attention to the "main things" that are on the list. 

3) Break up larger tasks into achievable smaller parts, and tackle the more demanding and challenging parts first, followed by some easier and more pleasurable ones. In other words, concentrate on measurable achievements for which you then reward yourself for what you have accomplished.

   

4) Choose an accountability partner or mentor if needed to help you stay focused on your goals and to encourage you when you fall short of reaching them.

All of this is simple and doable. But simple and easy are obviously not the same thing.

5/30/26 DN-R Justice Matters Column: Virginia's Aging Prison Population Crisis

Shawn Weneta is the Director of Government Affairs
at Cavalier Consulting in Richmond and
previously held policy positions with the
ACLU of Virginia and REFORM Alliance.

 Virginia is walking straight into a prison health care funding crisis, not because the problem is new, but because we have spent nearly a decade studying it, acknowledging it, and then doing almost nothing.

In 2017, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission warned the General Assembly that prison health care costs were on a collision course with Virginia’s budget, driven by an aging prison population, chronic disease, and the uniquely high cost of delivering care behind bars. JLARC offered clear recommendations to avoid this outcome.

Eight years later, the warnings have largely been ignored, and the bill is coming due.

VADOC medical spending has blown past appropriations in consecutive years, overrunning the budget by $25.8 million in FY2024 and $23.7 million in FY2025. Annual medical costs now total $294.4 million, consuming more than 18% of the entire corrections budget and growing faster than any other expense.

This is not a management problem at the margins; it is structural.

Virginia now pays $1.3 million every week, more than $67 million a year, for offsite medical care alone, delivered under guard with transportation, security staffing and legal risk layered on top.

And the cost concentration is staggering. Just two incarcerated individuals are each costing Virginia more than $1 million per year in medication alone, illustrating how quickly a handful of high-acuity cases can overwhelm an already strained system.

Even more alarming, spending growth is now outpacing health care inflation itself. Senate finance staff found that VADOC’s medical expenditures exceeded inflation-adjusted projections in both fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2025, meaning cost growth is accelerating, not stabilizing.

Meanwhile, the consequences are rippling through the system. To cover medical overruns, DOC has diverted funds from security operations and facility maintenance and imposed a partial hiring freeze. In plain terms, Virginia is funding prison health care by short-staffing prisons, a trade-off that raises safety risks for staff and incarcerated people alike.

And yet, the worst is still ahead.

Virginia’s prison population is aging rapidly. People over 50 now make up less than a quarter of the prison population but account for 61% of all medical costs. The average annual medical cost for someone over 55 is more than $70,000 per year, driven by cancer treatment, dialysis, cardiac care, dementia and end-of-life services.

This demographic shift is locked in. Over the next several years, more than 12,000 incarcerated people will age into the highest-cost brackets. No amount of contract renegotiation or staffing tweaks will change the basic math: prisons are becoming de facto nursing homes, and the most expensive ones taxpayers could possibly operate.

If current trends hold, and recent data suggests they are worsening, Virginia is on track to spend well over $4 billion on prison health care over the next decade. That figure assumes continued annual growth similar to the past five years and does not account for emerging cost drivers like new specialty pharmaceuticals, expanding opioid-use disorder treatment mandates, or rising contract labor costs.

To put it plainly: prison health care alone is on a trajectory to rival major statewide education or transportation programs, without any dedicated revenue stream to support it.

At that scale, the question is no longer whether prison health care will crowd out other priorities, but when. If left unaddressed, these costs could force lawmakers to consider tapping Virginia’s rainy day fund, not because of a recession or natural disaster, but because we failed to act on a known, documented and foreseeable budget risk.

What makes this moment especially troubling is how little progress has been made since JLARC sounded the alarm. Many of the commission’s 2017 recommendations remain unimplemented or only partially explored.

Other states have moved aggressively to reduce costs by treating people in less restrictive, less expensive environments when public safety allows. Virginia has largely continued doing what it has always done: treating aging, chronically ill people inside prisons long after incarceration is the costliest and least effective option.

According to a new study, if current trends continue, as much as one-third of the U.S. prison population will be over 50 by 2030.

Returning people home, under supervision, with medical coverage shifted to Medicaid or Medicare, is not a silver bullet. But it is one of the few tools that actually changes the cost structure rather than rearranging it. Every person safely treated in the community is one fewer six-figure line item in the DOC medical ledger.

Virginia’s prison health care crisis is no longer theoretical. The costs are real, rising faster than expected, and already undermining the core functions of the corrections system. We were warned in 2017. We confirmed the warnings in 2024 and 2025.

The silver tsunami is coming. The bill is already arriving. And the longer we wait, the fewer responsible options remain.

If Virginia is serious about fiscal stewardship, affordability, and making government work, we must confront this crisis now, before prison health care becomes the budget emergency we pretend no one could have seen coming.

Harrisonburg's Daily News-Record publishes a monthly Justice Matters column provided by the Valley Justice Coalition. Shawn Weneta was a great help in getting the HB1030 parole reform bill passed that Delegate Wilt sponsored on our behalf.

Three Texts For A National Day Of Repentance

Isaiah 1:13-20 New King James Version

Bring no more futile sacrifices;

Incense is an abomination to Me.

The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—

I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.

Your New Moons and your appointed feasts

My soul hates;

They are a trouble to Me,

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands,

I will hide My eyes from you;

Even though you make many prayers,

I will not hear.

Your hands are full of blood.

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;

Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.

Cease to do evil,

Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Rebuke the oppressor;

Defend the fatherless,

Plead for the widow.

“Come now, and let us reason together,”

Says the Lord,

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They shall be as wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

You shall eat the good of the land;

But if you refuse and rebel,

You shall be devoured by the sword”;

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Luke 4:16-19 New King James Version

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” *

Matthew 7:15-25 New King James Version

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

* This is believed to refer to the Year of Jubilee described in Leviticus 25:8-24 when slaves and prisoners were to be freed and acquired land was to be restored to their original owners.