At least six incarcerated people have burned themselves at western Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison, the Virginia Department of Corrections confirmed Wednesday.
Lawmakers in Virginia’s Legislative Black Caucus say a dozen prisoners have harmed themselves since mid-September and want an investigation into inmates’ claims of poor living conditions and treatment in the high-security prison. Earlier this year prisoners there held hunger strikes to protest conditions.
“People who have been incarcerated at Red Onion State Prison describe being regularly subjected to racial and physical abuse from correctional officers, medical neglect including the withholding of medicine, excessive stays in solitary confinement with one report of 600 consecutive days, inedible food having been covered in maggots and officers’ spit, and violent dog attacks,” according to the release from the Black Caucus. “These repeated and tragic self-immolation attempts, and accompanying hunger strikes, reflect the psychological and physical toll that gruesome prison conditions can have on incarcerated individuals.”
A Wednesday statement from DOC director Chadwick Dotson confirmed that six people had burned themselves by “using improvised devices that were created by tampering with electrical outlets.”
He added that all six were treated for their injuries and returned to Red Onion where they have been referred to the mental health staff for treatment.
Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, said that the governor was aware of the situation.
Dotson also had pointed words for groups making allegations against Red Onion.
“The recent round of stories about Red Onion are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to try to score cheap political points by advocacy groups who pursue prison abolition and policies that would make Virginians less safe,” he said.
Alison Chaffin, who has a loved one in Red Onion, said that she was frustrated by Dotson’s response.
“(VBLC) asked him to investigate, and then this is his response,” she said. “He says ‘It’s not self-immolating.” But they burned themselves — I thought that was the definition.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Virginia’s Black Caucus stressed their commitment to legislation, pointing to a bill to regulate the number of days an incarcerated person can spend in solitary confinement. The bill passed the legislature this year before being vetoed by Youngkin.
“The reality that these individuals felt there was no other avenue to have their claims taken seriously, investigated, and remedied is a grave indictment of the Commonwealth of Virginia and reminds us of the urgent need for comprehensive prison reform,” the VBLC statement said.
Rather than labeling it solitary confinement, Virginia has what it calls “restorative housing. This is defined as “special purpose bed assignments operated under maximum security regulations and procedures and utilized for the personal protection or custodial management of an incarcerated person.”
