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Prisoners Criticize VADOC Vaccine Rollout, Coronavirus Response

VCU CNS | February 18, 2021

Topics: Brian Moran, coronavirus, COVID-19, Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, Legal Aid Justice Center, vaccine, Virginia Department of Corrections

Inmates in Virginia correctional centers have been approved to receive COVID vaccines, but a disorganized rollout has led to confusion and a lack of information about when vaccines will actually be coming.

Jillian Floyd hasn’t seen her son in a year. She is one of many Virginia prisoners experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia’s correctional institutions, where thousands of incarcerated people have tested positive for the coronavirus since March, and more than 50 who died also tested positive for the disease.

Floyd, a prisoner at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Fluvanna County, said she talks on the phone every day with her 10-year-old child. She said it is difficult for her son not to see her like he did before COVID-19.

“I used to have video visits with my son, and regular in-person visits too,” Floyd said in an email. “I could see how big he was getting.”

Now, without access to video calls and living in the red zone, an area designated for prisoners who test positive for COVID-19, Floyd said she can’t go outside and that she is expected to stay in her cell. She said she tested positive about two weeks ago. Prisoners in red zones may leave their cells to access phones, kiosks, showers, restrooms, nursing stations, food trays and laundry, according to Gregory Carter, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Corrections.

More than 11,800 prisoners and 4,700 employees have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran. That accounts for approximately half of the prison population. More than 470 prisoners and 210 employees have received a second dose, Moran said. 

VADOC Vaccinated Population. Data from Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran and Virginia Department of Corrections. Visualization by Andrew Ringle, CNS.

There are 629 active coronavirus cases as of Thursday among on-site incarcerated individuals, three active cases in hospitals, and 132 active cases among employees, according to VADOC. There have been more than 8,800 total positive COVID-19 cases, and more than 50 prisoners have died who tested positive for COVID-19.

Floyd, among others living in Virginia’s prisons, said she doesn’t think she could get the vaccine right now even if she wanted to.

“Some women have already gotten it, but they haven’t told us when we are going to get it,” Floyd said.

Staff are administering two-dose Moderna vaccines, VADOC said in a January news release. The department is offering email stamps, telephone credits, and commissary items that will become available in early March to prisoners who take the vaccine. 

“We want all staff and inmates who want the COVID-19 vaccine to get their inoculations as soon as possible,” Director Harold Clarke said in the release. “This effort is important to all in the VADOC community – our staff, inmates, and the community outside the walls, where our staff and inmates’ families live.”

Floyd said she was moved to the yellow zone, a quarantined area for those who may have been exposed to the virus, “in the middle of a freezing cold rain storm” after her previous roommate tested positive for COVID-19. Floyd said she initially tested negative but felt sick after moving to the yellow zone. She was worried she had the virus but wasn’t tested again for days. 

“When I finally got tested, I tested positive and was moved to the red zone,” Floyd said. “The nice thing about the red zone is they kind of let us pick who we wanted to live with, so I’m with someone I knew already.” 

Floyd said staff removed personal belongings from those moving into the red zone to quarantine the items, but two of her bags were lost in the move. She now sleeps without a pillow under a borrowed blanket and sheet, she said. The state issues linens to prisoners, and they may request replacements, Carter said.

Shannon Ellis, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center, a statewide legal aid and advocacy organization, said Floyd’s experience is consistent with what she’s heard from prisoners across the commonwealth.

“I think it’s fair to say that there has been a lot of chaos within [VADOC] in handling the coronavirus,” Ellis said.

Ellis is a co-leading attorney in long-running litigation against Fluvanna Women’s Correctional Center, she said. Ellis’ duties include counseling incarcerated women living in the facility and evaluating healthcare standards following a settlement agreement under which VADOC would improve Fluvanna’s medical care.

Ellis said her legal partners conduct between 100 and 200 interviews with incarcerated women per year, and she receives around 60 emails and letters every week.

Overview of Fluvanna Correctional Center. Satellite photo from Google Maps.

Fluvanna Women’s Correctional Center has reported more than 630 COVID-19 cases among prisoners, ranking fifth in total positive inmate cases among the commonwealth’s correctional institutions, according to VADOC data. 

“What we’re hearing from our clients at Fluvanna, and what I’m hearing from other advocates that work with other facilities around the state, is that there’s a lot of vaccine hesitancy that’s being caused simply by poor education and counseling ahead of time with the vaccines,” Ellis said.

Women living in Fluvanna have “had to say yes or no” to the COVID-19 vaccine without the opportunity to consult a doctor or a nurse, despite having multiple serious health conditions and medication regimens, Ellis said.

“That’s a big problem,” Ellis said.

Prisoners are able to directly consult with a nurse or a doctor before receiving the vaccine, Carter said.

VADOC follows guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and communicates with local health districts regarding COVID-19 protocol and vaccine rollout, Moran said.

“We feel it’s going smoothly,” Moran said. “So if there are complaints, then you know, we’ll try to address those. But as of now, I’m being told it’s going fairly well in terms of the delivery of the vaccines.”

The Virginia Department of Health began offering COVID-19 vaccines to people living in state prisons and local jails in January, expanding eligibility for who can get the shot under phase 1b of the commonwealth’s distribution plan. For the public, the phase now includes frontline workers, people aged 65 or older and people living in correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and migrant camps. People aged 16 to 64 years old with an underlying condition were added to phase 1b, though the vaccines aren’t readily available to them yet.

Moran said those in law enforcement, including correctional officers, were a priority in the early days of phase 1b.

“As we went to the prisons to do the correctional officers, it was a matter of operational efficiency … to do all individuals at the facility,” Moran said. “And in recognizing the particularly vulnerable population of those who are in confined spaces, it was determined that we would include inmates for the vaccinations.”

Moran said his office is focused on having an aggressive vaccination and testing program to drive down positive cases in correctional institutions. However, the process is not running smoothly, Ellis said. 

“I think that Brian Moran has heard many complaints from advocates and from family members of incarcerated people across the state,” Ellis said. 

Some cells in the COVID-19 red zone at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women don’t have call buttons, Ellis said. This prevents women inside the cell from being able to quickly communicate if they are in a crisis.

“For example, if they’re having difficulty breathing,” Ellis said. “The only way to get attention is by shouting and basically banging on your closed locked cell door to try to get the attention of a guard, which, if you’re in a medical crisis, you may not even be able to do.”

Carter said cell intercom systems are not required by the American Correctional Association, the accrediting body for VADOC. Some facilities have cell intercom systems and some do not.

“Security and medical staff make regular rounds to check the inmates’ status and address specific needs,” Carter said in an email.

Carter said department staff provide mental health resources and services to prisoners. He said services vary by location but generally include periodic newsletters from mental health staff; a toll-free number to ask questions, and the opportunity to share concerns and receive information from mental health staff.

“We also provide psychiatric services as needed, and other programs and services as needed,” Carter said. 

VADOC COVID-19 Vaccine First Doses. Data from Virginia Department of Corrections. Visualization by Andrew Ringle, CNS.

The department uses several methods to educate prisoners on the vaccine. This includes recorded interviews with medical and public safety authorities that are shared with staff and prisoners, Carter said.

“Our health services staff has done tremendous work these last few weeks getting shots into arms,” VADOC Director of Communications Lisa Kinney said in an email.

Regarding VADOC’s incentive packs for those who receive the vaccine, Floyd said it doesn’t change her mind about the shot.

“I think I’m going to get it, but I’m not going to base my decision about whether to take it on free stuff,” Floyd said. “If it gets people to take it, that’s great.”

Nicholes Callahan, a prisoner at River North Correctional Center in Grayson County, said he recalls when VADOC offered similar incentives to encourage getting the flu shot in the fall. He said it did not play a part in his decision to get the shot.

“I feel like the incentive pack is a bribe,” Callahan said in an email.

Callahan said he’s unsure if he wants to get vaccinated. He is concerned about the vaccine’s possible side effects.

“Some other inmates have gotten it this week, so now I am going to see if they have any immediate side effects,” Callahan said. 

Callahan said he was moved into quarantine after his cellmate tested positive for the virus. Prior to COVID-19, he said he would spend the entire day out of his cell, with in-person visits and two weekly trips to the gym. Now, he is out of his cell for about three hours a day “if we are lucky,” he said.

“I feel they have done the best they can in River North,” Callahan said. “It would have been nice to not have lost so much rec time in them doing it.”

David Bomber, a prisoner of Nottoway Correctional Center, said he lives in a cell that is about 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide with a sink and a toilet. The cell is designed for one person but he has a cellmate, Bomber said.

“We basically live in a toilet,” Bomber said.

VADOC’s average daily population has decreased from 29,136 in March 2020 to 23,811 in January, Carter said. He did not respond directly to whether one-man cells are used to house more than one prisoner.

Bomber tested positive for COVID-19 in December with about 200 other prisoners, he said. Bomber and roughly 40 other men moved into quarantine in an area that previously served as a restrictive housing unit, Bomber said. These areas are intended to separate prisoners from the general population.

“The conditions were punitive at best,” Bomber said. 

Bomber said he received temperature checks twice daily and only suffered from a headache. He’s now out of quarantine and on modified lockdown, but doesn’t know if he’s eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

“They’re not putting out no kind of memos; there’s no exchange of information,” Bomber said.

Bomber said he hasn’t heard of incentives for getting the vaccine, but he remembers when he received bags of peanuts and Doritos for getting the flu shot several months ago. 

As Bomber spoke on the phone, someone in the background announced with a megaphone that prisoners could sign up for the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I think if they’re going to offer it, I’m going to go ahead and take it,” Bomber said.

Written by Andrew Ringle, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Fluvanna Correctional Center For Women, via Wikimedia Commons.

Amended Bill to Limit Solitary Confinement Heads to Senate Floor

VCU CNS | February 8, 2021

Topics: ACLU of Virginia, General Assembly 2021, Joe Morrissey, Solitary Confinement, Virginia Department of Corrections

David Smith remembers dancing to music in his head and having conversations with television shows during 16 months in solitary confinement at Norfolk City Jail. 

“Your mind plays tricks on you,” Smith said. “There was a slow disconnect with reality. I didn’t recognize the pain that was happening in me, nor did I have the emotional strength to fight back, institutionally.”

Smith is no longer an inmate, but his goal is to end the torture that he said Virginia inmates have endured while sitting in solitary confinement. Smith served a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to 10 counts of possession of child poronography in 2013. Now Smith works with the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement to lead the charge for legislative change.

Sen. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Richmond, introduced Senate Bill 1301, to prohibit solitary confinement in adult and juvenile correctional facilities. The Senate Appropriations and Finance Committee voted 12-4 Wednesday to advance the bill with amendments.

The amended bill would allow inmates to be held in solitary confinement for 48 consecutive hours, but that can be extended to allow for an investigation to be completed. Isolated, or solitary, confinement is defined in the bill as being confined in a cell alone or with another inmate for more than 20 hours a day for an adult and 17 hours a day for a juvenile.

The Virginia Department of Corrections would still be allowed to use solitary confinement in three circumstances: if an inmate is a threat to themself or others, during a facility-wide lockdown, or for an inmate’s own protection. 

The bill originally proposed that inmates receive medical evaluations within 8 hours of being placed in solitary confinement. The department would need to hire additional registered nurses, physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and cognitive counselors to complete the evaluations. 

Without amendments, Morrissey said the fiscal impact report determined the bill would have cost at least $23 million to implement. After consulting with Corrections, Morrissey also eliminated the original requirement that some inmates be offered at least three hours of activities intended to promote personal development. 

There’s nothing currently preventing Corrections from placing inmates in isolated confinement for long periods of time, according to Morrissey.

“Studies show that solitary confinement begins to have debilitating mental and physical effects in as few as 10 days being isolated, and exacerbated for those individuals already suffering from a mental illness,” Morrissey said during the committee meeting. 

Sen. Joseph Morrissey. File photo via VCU-CNS.

The General Assembly passed a bill in 2019 that required the department to release statistics of who is in restrictive housing, the department’s name for solitary confinement. 

Vishal Agraharkar, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, said thousands of Virginia inmates have been affected by solitary confinement over the last couple of years. 

“In the last couple of years, around 7,000 and 6,500 people have cycled around some form of restrictive housing department wide, which showed a real need for the bill,” Agraharkar said.

Jerry Fitz, corrections operations administrator and legislative liaison for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said during a bill committee hearing that the number of Virginia inmates in solitary confinement decreased by 60 percent from January 2016 to June 2020. 

“That’s roughly 908 individuals less than when the study started in 2016,” Fitz said. 

Agraharkar represented Nicolas Reyes, an inmate who spent more than 12 years in solitary confinement at Red Onion State Prison in Southwest Virginia. The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Reyes that ended in a settlement in January. As a part of the settlement, the department agreed to create a language access policy to ensure those with limited English skills are provided access to facilities, programs and services. 

“In the long run, if you make sure that people are being kept in solitary for as little time as possible and you work toward eliminating it altogether, you’re going to see savings in terms of mental health costs,” Agraharkar said. “Public safety will be helped as well, by making sure we’re not putting people in conditions that are extremely harmful long term to their mental health.”

Agraharkar added that in the first half of 2020 the Virginia Department of Corrections spent over $1 million on just two lawsuits related to solitary confinement that the ACLU of Virginia obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. He also said it costs two to three times more to construct a prison that’s designed to hold people in solitary confinement than one designed for a general population.

“Solitary confinement has significant cost in addition to all the harm that it does to people that are essentially tortured on the inside,” Agraharkar said.

The bill isn’t the first attempt at banning solitary confinement in the commonwealth. Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, introduced House Bill 795 in 2018, but it was left in a subcommittee. The committee didn’t pass the bill in 2018 because they didn’t think it could be funded after looking at the fiscal impact statement, Agraharkar said.

Morrissey said he thought the bills would make less work for the department and not more.

“Intuitively it would strike me that if we’re eliminating solitary confinement, then we’re eliminating the necessity for DOC corrections officers to monitor the doings of somebody in solitary confinement,” Morrissey said. “I think it would be less work, but that’s just an intuitive analysis.”

Smith said his lawyers told him solitary confinement would be the best alternative for his safety. Then he quickly realized how detrimental it was to his mental and physical health. Smith said he’s read letters from inmates serving time in solitary confinement and they inspire him to push for change.

“I didn’t fight on the inside, so I’m sure as hell going to fight now,” Smith said. “We can’t let them be silent, we’ve got to amplify those voices to show what’s going on.”

The bill heads to the Senate. If passed, the bill would take effect in July 2022.

Written by Noah Fleischman, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Virginia Capitol. VCU CNS photo by Conor Lobb.

In Local and Regional Jails, a Patchwork Response to COVID-19

Henry Clayton Wickham | November 24, 2020

Topics: A Better Day Than Yesterday, Cash Bail, Colette McEachin, coronavirus, COVID-19, General Assembly, Legal Aid Justice Center, Levar Stoney, Nolef Turns, Ralph Northam, Richmond City Justice Center, Richmond Community Bail Fund, Riverside Regional Jail, Virginia Department of Corrections

State and local efforts to keep COVID out of jails have been hobbled by poor oversight and unambitious policy, advocates say.

At the time the Governor announced his early release plan, Letiesha Gordon’s son, Dayon Jones, was serving the final months of a non-violent felony sentence in Riverside Regional Jail, near Petersburg. As soon as the plan took effect, Gordon began a crusade to secure her son’s release. But when she requested an “Offender Appeal for COVID-19 Early Release” form for her son, she says the counselor she spoke with at Riverside did not even know such a form existed. 

In the months that followed, Gordon called the jail repeatedly; she emailed Mayor Levar Stoney, Governor Ralph Northam, and a senator; she sent several letters. “I know that they thought I was crazy but I was just a mother,” said Gordon, who is the founder of the non-profit A Better Day Than Yesterday, which works with incarcerated people after their release. “I didn’t even contact them on behalf of my organization because it was not about business at that point. It was about my son’s safety.”

After Initial Drop, Decarceration Stalls

This past spring the populations of local and regional jails decreased significantly. From March to April, the total population of Virginia’s jails decreased by 17 percent, and the number of people committed for misdemeanors dropped by 67 percent. However this decline was not enough to keep incarcerated people safe from COVID-19, advocates say, and in recent months the rate of releases has stalled. In October, RCJC’s incarcerated population exceeded 700 for the first time since March, rising from a low of 633 in July. Over half of those incarcerated in RCJC are pre-trial detainees, as of October, meaning they are being held prior to conviction.

“It is irresponsible to say that we’re trying to do the best for the people, but we’re placing them in positions where they could potentially die versus getting their day in court,” said Sheba Williams, who directs the non-profit Nolef Turns and serves on Mayor Stoney’s Task Force on Reimagining Public Safety.

On March 19th, as COVID spread through Virginia communities, Governor Northam declined to use his pardon power to release prisoners. Instead, his office issued guidance to local criminal justice officials suggesting they use sentence modifications, issue summonses when possible, and consider incarceration alternatives. Then a month later, in an April special session, the Virginia legislature gave the Department of Corrections (DOC) the power to release inmates with a record of good behavior and less than a year on their sentence: a category that included around 2,000 of the state’s roughly 30,000 prisoners. These statewide release policies impact local and regional jails because people with felony sentences of under three years, including Leteisha Gordon’s son, are usually held under contract in jails. 

Roughly half of those deemed eligible for release by DOC have been released to date.

Lack of Oversight 

Part of the problem, political consultant Jessica Pishko says, is that state and local officials have very little authority over sheriffs, who run local jails and serve on regional jail boards. Beyond the 8th Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment” and an antiquated state law designed to prevent extra-judicial hangings, Sheriffs have almost full discretion over how, or if, they address the risk of COVID in their jails, according to Pishko. (Danville’s sheriff, for example, only made masks mandatory for jail employees after reports of a 72-person outbreak at his jail last month.)

Sheriffs also appear to have the final say on what COVID-related information is revealed to the public. According to Dr. Danny Avula, Director of the Richmond City Health District (RCHD), RCHD is not allowed to release information about COVID rates in Henrico jails or RCJC without permission from those jails’ sheriffs. This has concerning implications. If the Department of Health must have a sheriffs’ goodwill to understand and address health risks inside of local jails, health officials can hardly serve as effective watchdogs in cases of disease outbreak. “There’s little accountability, little oversight, there is zero transparency when we’re talking about the public,” said Sheba Williams, describing the COVID situation in Virginia prisons and jails.

According to Yohance Whitaker of Legal Aid Justice Center, even with significantly reduced jail populations, it is difficult to maintain social distancing in facilities like RCJC. Many local and regional jails have enforced weeks-long periods of isolation as a result. “Prisons and jails and detention facilities are known amplifiers of infectious disease,” Whitaker said. “Measures to keep the illness from spreading like social distancing [and] washing your hands on a regular basis are nearly impossible in such confining spaces.”

A number of inmates interviewed by RVA Mag also questioned the efficacy of RCJC’s lockdown measuring, claiming poor sanitation in common spaces allowed for transmission of the virus even without extended person-to-person contact. According to RCJC inmate Emanuel Crawford, his pod is cleaned once a day by incarcerated people who are not given COVID-informed sanitation guidelines. 

“You might have a lazy inmate who just say look, I’m’a clean this and it’ll be alright – and then you just jeopardized everybody,” said Crawford. “In a situation like this, you should be making it mandatory that certain things be sanitized properly. Not only at night, but in the afternoon. Give us the equipment to do this two or three times a day.”

Jail deputies frequently interact with people experiencing medical or mental health crises but, beyond a high-school education, there are no training requirements for Sheriff’s deputies in the State of Virginia. How, or whether, employees are trained is left up to each sheriff’s discretion. This leads to a dynamic, Pishko says, where deputies with minimal training and no social-work experience are given power over vulnerable, often mentally unwell individuals. “I sometimes compare jails to a hospital,” said Pishko. “Picture a hospital where none of the staff want to be there. You have a bunch of sick people, but you have nurses who are like, ‘Whatever.’ ‘I don’t feel good.’ ‘Whatever.’ It gets scary, people die.”

Riverside Regional Jail. Photo via Facebook.

Administrative Harm 

Our legal system has long been stacked against the accused, especially Black and brown people and poor people. But, along with new dangers, the pandemic has also brought new legal and administrative barriers in Richmond-area jails and courts, limiting individuals’ access to counsel and gumming up an already slow legal process, according to Richmond’s head public defender, Tracy Paner. 

In response to the pandemic, the State Supreme Court has suspended defendant’s statutory right to a “speedy trial,” eliminating the five-month maximum waiting period between trials for people facing state charges. (“Everybody awaiting trial is in a holding pattern,” Paner said in October. “There’s no way for the defense to require it to go forward.”) Meanwhile, federal jury trials were suspended back in April. In Richmond they resumed, at a much-reduced rate, in October and November. This means that, if you were incarcerated in RCJC and received a federal charge in April, you could still be behind bars awaiting your day in court. 

During this period, your access to confidential legal counsel might also have been significantly limited. Since “contact visiting” ended in March, Paner says, lawyers generally have two options for speaking with their clients: through a glass wall or by video. But if a client is in two-week quarantine, either because they are COVID-positive or have recently arrived, the jail requires lawyers to use confidential video-conferencing. This presents two problems, according to Paner. First, the video is often poor quality, and sometimes the tablets inmates use do not work at all. Second, the confidential video-conferencing may not actually be confidential.

“I have seen it, other attorneys have seen it,” said Paner. “We are exiting from the visiting area and we can hear the speaker on the deputy’s computer. We can hear another attorney’s conversation with the client. We have had deputies who think they are helping us listening because there’s a time limit on the video meetings.”

Paner said that, though the public defender’s office has been “very proactive” in seeing bond motions for people with pre-existing conditions, it has not had much success. “The judges are saying things like, well, I know somebody who had it and it wasn’t that bad,” she said, referring to COVID. Richmond Circuit Court Judge Bradley B. Cavedo, who blocked the removal of Confederate statues, has referred to the coronavirus in court as “the wuhan flu.”

Cash Bail Is Alive and Well

In 2018, former Commonwealth’s Attorney (CA) Michael Herring announced that prosecutors in Richmond would no longer seek cash bail for defendants awaiting trial. Though the CA’s office also adheres to this policy under Colette McEachin’s leadership, Paner says prosecutors’ actions still perpetuate the cash bail system.

“The attorneys from the commonwealth do not say the word ‘I object’ to releasing someone in the courtroom for low-level felonies,” Paner said. “But what they do is stand there with records and say, ‘In 1992, he was charged with robbery but it was dismissed.’ That means — wasn’t him, didn’t happen, couldn’t prove it. So they would stand there and bring up things, from 20 years ago or more, that weren’t convictions, in an attempt to sway the judges. The letter of the policy might be followed, but certainly not the spirit.”

“Our policy hasn’t changed,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin when asked about cash bail. “We still don’t seek cash bail in most situations. Generally, the only time we do is if the defendant is a threat to himself or others, or is a flight risk, which are the two bond determinations that are supposed to be made by statute. Ultimately, anything we recommend is up to the judge, and sometimes the judge agrees with us, and sometimes he doesn’t.”

Whether the fault lies with judges and magistrates, prosecutors, or some combination of both, Richmond’s cash bail continues apace. In early September, The Richmond Community Bail Fund identified 98 people in four local facilities incarcerated because they could not afford bail. (These numbers, acquired by raking through inmate databases and entering Freedom of Information Act Requests, are not comprehensive.) The combined cost of the bonds for these individuals was about $450,000, according to Luca Suede, co-director of the Richmond Community Bail Fund. 

“That’s about a hundred people that judges across different counties have already determined could be released,” Suede said. “Now, obviously everybody should be released. I don’t give a fuck how a judge feels. But in the State’s rhetoric — who has the kind of power to do these releases — there is already criteria that’s being deployed.”

Northam’s guidance to Virginia jails stops short of recommending bail be waived or discontinued, however. Instead, it asks jails to “consider ways to decrease the number of low-risk offenders being held without bail.” 

Protesters at Richmond City Justice Center, June 2020. Photo by Kegham Hovsepian, via Facebook.

“They can get over it together”

In May, Leteisha Gordon’s fears for her son’s safety were confirmed when Riverside Regional experienced COVID outbreak: 36 people at Riverside tested positive, including Gordon’s son. (Fortunately, Dayon Jones did not end up experiencing any serious symptoms of COVID-19.) When Gordon learned her son had tested positive and was on lockdown with another COVID-positive inmate, she called the jail to express her concerns. A sergeant, she says, told her: “They can get over it together.”

“This is somebody that’s helpless,” said Gordon. “He’s in jail. He can’t get to any kind of emergency assistance to help himself. And you don’t have his mother there, so for them to tell me that it was really heartbreaking. You have no idea.”

Finally in June, weeks after her son had tested positive for COVID-19, his counselor called him into his office with Gordon on the phone. He gave her son the form to sign and said it would take three weeks to be processed. After weeks emailing, phone calling and letter writing, Gordon had finally succeeded. A form her son should have had access to months ago — a form that, she insists, would have secured his release as a non-violent offender with asthma — had finally materialized. By that time though, it hardly mattered: Gordon’s son was scheduled to be released on July 13, three days later. 

All her effort didn’t save her son a single day in jail.

Top Photo via Riverside Regional Jail

Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Malik Hall | April 14, 2020

Topics: Bon Air Juvenile Correction Center, coronavirus, covid 19, juvenile justice, juvenile justice system, RISE for Youth, school to prison pipeline, Valerie Slater, Virginia Department of Corrections, Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice

Hoping to protect at-risk youth from coronavirus, youth advocacy organization RISE For Youth is calling for the release of juveniles currently incarcerated in Virginia for non-violent offenses.

During the COVID-19 pandemic the focus for many of us is on the health and financial fortunes of ourselves and our loved ones. But one portion of the population that is being overlooked by many is that of juveniles incarcerated in Virginia. As they find themselves trapped within facilities where the novel coronavirus puts populations “at highest risk for infection,” they face a possible death sentence. Their current situation certainly fits the bill for “cruel and unusual punishment,” and this is why non-partisan youth advocacy organization RISE For Youth are calling for Virginia to release juveniles incarcerated for non-violent offenses within the Commonwealth.

As of April 13, there have been over 1.8 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, and over 115,000 deaths, including 5274 cases and 141 deaths here in Virginia. And despite early understandings of the virus’s effects, recent events have revealed that COVID-19 does not discriminate by age. In several instances, hospitalizations have been required for individuals under 20 with no pre-existing conditions.

RISE for Youth, an nonpartisan campaign committed to dismantling the youth prison model by promoting the creation of community-based alternatives to youth incarceration, are currently advocating for the release of incarcerated juveniles, as well as an end to new admissions to juvenile detention and correction facilities, for the duration of the crisis.

While the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) has implemented COVID-19 safety measures, Valerie Slater, RISE for Youth’s Executive Director, thinks that Virginia DJJ’s plans are not ambitious enough to keep youth safe.

“We need to make sure that they have immediate and consistent access to health care,” said Slater. “We need to start releasing young people so that the numbers are not so high, and are not at risk of becoming infected or infecting others, simply because we’re afraid to let young people out. We can’t operate based on fear.”

At the beginning of this month, the DJJ announced that multiple employees at the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center had tested positive for COVID-19. Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center presently holds 205 juveniles; carriers of COVID-19 are likely to infect two to three others on average. The fact that carriers have a prolonged asymptomatic stage makes it difficult to pin down exactly who may be a carrier.

Despite quarantine measures implemented for those employees, on April 6, DJJ announced that an inmate at the facility also tested positive for COVID-19. The inmate had not been in contact with any of the staff members who’d previously tested positive.

All units were placed on medical isolation after the inmate tested positive; DJJ stated that those who shared the inmate’s unit will be reassigned and the unit itself will be “fully sanitized.” These efforts, along with daily screenings and the requirement that all inmates leaving their units wear masks, were put in place in order to prevent further spread. However, in light of the fact that none of the staff members that tested positive were in contact with the youth who tested positive, Slater believes this will not be the only inmate who has contracted COVID-19.

“Taking a young person’s temperature and asking them a series of questions to determine whether or not they have been exhibiting the symptoms — that’s fine, but it’s not sufficient, especially when you can reduce the numbers,” Slater said.

RISE For Youth Executive Director Valerie Slater. Photo via Facebook

The DJJ first implemented social distancing measures on March 13, including suspension of all visitations, an end to any intermingling of inmates from different housing units, and all large group activities being put on hold indefinitely. These measures are still in effect, and visitation has since been replaced by video conferences and phone calls; families have also been encouraged to send more letters.

However, family members on the outside are aware of the ongoing psychological toll these measures can take on inmates, especially in addition to that of being in a correctional facility in the first place.

“I don’t think like the safest place to get quarantined,” said Sherrod Jenkins, 18, whose brother is currently incarcerated in a Richmond City jail. “They gotta sit in that room and I think it’s gonna mess with their heads.”

RISE for Youth haven’t been in contact with anyone within the DJJ, but they have spoken to judges and prosecutors about their hopes to release the nonviolent offenders.

“We’ve got five commonwealth attorneys who have already signed on, and we’re still working to get more,” said Slater. “There are several legislators who have also signed on to our list of recommendations. So this is something that our leaders in both the legislature and the judicial system are in agreement.”

Releasing these youth is not as simple as opening the doors and letting them out. Many have medical conditions that require ongoing monitoring, as well as educational needs that must be met. Further complicating the situation is the fact that some of the inmates were incarcerated for violent acts. However, RISE For Youth has foreseen these issues and has a working model to use as an example: Albemarle County Jail, where 113 of the 400-plus adults incarcerated at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak have been released. Of the 113 released so far, only one has re-offended since, and it was for a violation less severe than what he was originally incarcerated for.

“They had the judges on board, they had the prosecutors on board, and the defense attorneys — everyone working in concert to make sure that room was in place for those that needed it,” stated Slater.

RISE For Youth are not advocating for the release of all inmates currently incarcerated in Virginia; they believe those who are still a threat to their community should be given appropriate care within correctional facilities. However, they do have a list of circumstances under which they believe inmates should be released.

“Number one, making sure that we’re looking at the kids that are not posing a threat,” said Slater. “Number two, if need be, that they are released on electronic monitoring. And number three, we need to be considering how we make sure that families are supported.”

New York’s Rikers Island was one of the first in the nation to implement a mass release of around 400 inmates with technical, noncriminal parole violations after an inmate was diagnosed with COVID-19. However, over two weeks after the initial announcement, hundreds remain in limbo, and in the meantime multiple inmates have died of coronavirus.

Coronavirus has also infiltrated adult prisons in Virginia. Currently, 65 staff members and prisoners in Virginia’s prison system have tested positive for COVID-19. Central Virginia Correctional Unit #13 and Virginia Correctional Center for Women both have had small-scale outbreaks, with multiple inmates and some staff testing positive. Five of these offenders are currently hospitalized for their symptoms.

As much as Slater is dissatisfied with the DJJ, she wants to work with them and the rest of the community to minimize the damage COVID-19 will do to Virginia’s youth.

“This isn’t a job for the DJJ to do alone,” said Slater. “This is something that should require the help of every agency in every organization that supports and provides services to young people, to ensure that they are supported appropriately.”

Top Image: Bill Dee, CIYP, via RISE For Youth/Medium

ACLU Urges Release Of Some Nonviolent Offenders To Combat Coronavirus Spread

VCU CNS | April 8, 2020

Topics: ACLU of Virginia, Bender Law Group, Brian J. Moran, coronavirus, correctional facilities, covid 19, Ralph Northam, Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Virginia Department of Corrections

Once COVID-19 hits the corrections system, it spreads quickly. The ACLU wants Virginia to do whatever they can to prevent this from happening — even if it means early release for some currently incarcerated.

As the coronavirus hits correctional facilities, the ACLU is calling for the release of some nonviolent inmates to help prevent outbreaks and keep residents and staff safe. 

The Virginia ACLU submitted a letter to the governor, along with the executive guidance document. The document focuses on reducing the overall populations in local and state custodial facilities, including reducing the intake of people. The organization called for an immediate release of all people identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as at-risk for COVID-19, such as older people and people with underlying health conditions, whose sentences would end in the next two years. The ACLU also wants the governor to begin a process of immediate release for anyone whose sentence would end in the next year, anyway.

There are a limited number of eligible parole cases that can be reviewed for early release, according to Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian J. Moran, who said at a press conference Monday that an expeditious review is “still ongoing.”

“There are a number of challenges because by the code we have no parole in the commonwealth of Virginia,” Moran said. “It is limited to geriatric release and limited to those who are sentenced before 1996.” 

Moran said the parole board has withdrawn warrants on technical violations for a number of individuals and has expedited release of parole for those already paroled, in effort to eliminate interaction between the parole supervisor and the individual.

 Three inmates at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women in Goochland have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections. One inmate at the Central Virginia Correctional Unit 13 for women has tested positive for COVID-19, according to VADOC. Four VADOC employees and one contractor have also tested positive for the virus. As of April 3, the Virginia Department of Health reports 2,012 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 46 deaths. From March 27 to April 3, 1,552 cases were confirmed, or 77 percent of all cases since the state’s first case was reported on March 7. 

 “We need strong leadership that will move us more quickly toward a criminal legal system that is safe for everyone,” ACLU Executive Director Claire Gastañaga said in a press release. “To do this, we must jettison the ‘tough on crime’ hyperbole and recognize this pandemic as an opportunity to rethink the way we choose to use the criminal legal system to address issues of poverty, income inequality and addiction.”

Governor Ralph Northam (CNS photo by Lia Tabackman)

Two weeks ago, the governor announced measures to battle the coronavirus outbreak among residents and staff, such as modifying sentences, diverting offenders from serving jail terms, utilizing home electronic monitoring, and reducing low-risk individuals being held without bail. 

Elliott B. Bender, founder of Bender Law Group in Richmond and president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said that the governor’s measures are great in theory “for the safety of all of us.” However, he is concerned that they are not being implemented consistently and completely. Consistency and getting all branches of government on the same page are important in this process, according to Bender.

Moran said state code mandates that the victims involved need to be notified of a prisoner’s potential early release. 

“And you have to provide victims time to weigh in on the decision,” Moran said. “And that is an ongoing process as well.”

To combat the virus, visitation and volunteer activities remain closed at correctional facilities, according to the VADOC. People entering VADOC correctional facilities will be screened using thermometers. In addition, the department ordered 112,000 additional bars of soap. Virginia Correctional Enterprises, which employs incarcerated people to produce a variety of goods, is now manufacturing about 30,000 sneeze and cough guard masks per day for inmates and staff, according to VADOC. All employees must assess their risk on a daily basis prior to work. Also, there are measures taken to ensure safety once a person leaves a VADOC facility. All inmates leaving a correctional facility are screened for COVID-19 on the day of their release, according to  VADOC.

Written by Rodney Robinson, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Satellite view of Virginia Correctional Center for Women, via InmateAid

Data Shows That Virginia Denies Vast Majority of Parole Requests

VCU CNS | January 7, 2020

Topics: Elizabeth Haysom, General Assembly, Jens Soering, Kemba Smith Pradia, parole, Taking Back Our Youth, Virginia Department of Corrections, Virginia Parole Board

In November 2019, Jen Soering and Elizabeth Haysom received parole after serving 30 years in state prison for the sensational murder of Haysom’s parents in 1985.

Soering, a German national who had been given two life sentences, and Haysom, a Canadian who had been sentenced to 90 years, were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.

“The Parole Board has determined that releasing Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom to their ICE deportation detainers is appropriate because of their youth at the time of the offenses, their institutional adjustment, and the length of their incarceration,” Adrianne Bennett, who chairs the board, said in a statement at the time.

Haysom and Soering at the time of their trial. Image via WSLS/YouTube

Soering and Haysom each had been denied parole several times before being granted parole in late November. Their release from the prison system may have given the impression that Virginia has become more lenient in granting parole.

And that’s true: The percentage of parole requests approved jumped from around 3 percent in 2014-16 to 13.5 percent in 2017, according to a Capital News Service analysis of Parole Board decisions.

But parole is still pretty rare in Virginia. Between January and October of this year, the Parole Board granted parole 5 percent of the time. Of more than 17,000 cases considered over the past six years, about 6 percent received parole.

The system’s critics say Virginia should grant parole more often.

“Considering that parole is a conditional release of an individual, this rate should be much higher,” said Jwa’n Moore, director of Taking Back Our Youth. “I believe that parole was created to prove that incarcerated people can learn from the mistakes that they have committed.”

Taking Back Our Youth is a nonprofit organization dedicated to “breaking the cycle” of juvenile incarceration.

Almost 30,000 people are serving time in prison in the commonwealth. In addition, 1,922 people were on parole as of October, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.

The newest member of the Parole Board, Kemba Smith Pradia, was appointed in September. At age 24, Pradia was sentenced to 24 years in prison for her participation in her boyfriend’s illegal drug activities. After serving a quarter of her sentence, she was granted clemency by President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Following her incarceration, Pradia earned college degrees in social work and law and started a foundation that raises awareness about drug abuse, violence, rehabilitation of ex-offenders and other social issues.

“She would probably bring compassion and empathy to the board,” Moore said. “People who have a personal history with the system have a unique vantage point that those who have historically served on the parole board haven’t had.”

Virginia abolished parole in 1995, but inmates still can get parole if they were sentenced before the law went into effect; were sentenced under the Youthful Offenders Act; or are eligible for geriatric parole.

Inmates can apply for geriatric parole if they are older than 60 and have served at least 10 years, or are older than 65 and have served at least five years.

Since 2014, of the approximately 2,900 applications for geriatric parole, 147 — about 5 percent — have been granted, the data indicated.

Of the 151 inmates older than 80 who have applied for parole, six have been granted. The offenders were denied for various reasons, including the seriousness of the offense and risk to the community. The Parole Board’s decisions generally do not list the crimes that the applicant was convicted of.

The oldest inmate to apply for parole was 92 years old; he was denied.

Of the 182 inmates under 21 who have applied for parole, four have been granted.

According to the data, the youngest inmates to apply for parole were 16 years old: One applied in 2014 and the other in 2018. Both were rejected.

“Minors are still learning and making mistakes that they have to learn from,” Moore said. “They should be held accountable for their actions, but parole gives our youth another chance at a positive lifestyle.”

In 1995, the Virginia General Assembly abolished parole on grounds that doing so would lower the frequency of reincarceration after release. State and federal officials say Virginia has the lowest rate of reincarceration nationwide: 23 percent of Virginia inmates are reincarcerated within three years of their release from prison.

“Virginia’s latest recidivism numbers are the result of a lot of hard work on the part of both the Department of Corrections and the incarcerated offenders,” Gov. Ralph Northam stated in a press release.

In 2000, in Fishback v. Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that juries must be told that parole has been abolished. Between 1995 and that court decision, 471 prisoners were sentenced without their juries knowing that they would not be eligible for parole, according to the Governor’s Commission on Parole Review.

In 2015, the commission recommended that those inmates receive an opportunity for sentence modification. The panel said juries might have had a misconception that offenders could receive a shorter sentence through parole.

“This misconception likely had real consequences, since juries typically hand down harsher sentences than judges,” the commission stated.

During the General Assembly’s 2019 session, legislators filed two bills to allow parole for those convicted before the Fishback ruling. One bill died in a House committee, and the other was defeated by one vote in a Senate committee.

A similar bill has been submitted for the legislative session that begins Jan. 8. In addition, Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, has proposed reinstating parole, and Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Fairfax, has filed legislation to study that idea. Other legislators have suggested expanding the possibility of parole for inmates who committed crimes as juveniles and have served at least 25 years in prison.

The parole process begins with an interview in which an examiner compiles a summary and recommendation for the Parole Board. The board then evaluates the case based on a number of factors, including compatibility with public safety and the offender’s criminal history and conduct in prison.

Since 2014, the parole board has provided more than 2,000 unique reasons to explain its decisions not to grant parole. The most common reasons include:

  • “Serious nature and circumstances” of the offender’s crime.
  • “Release at this time would diminish seriousness of crime.”
  • “The Board considers you to be a risk to the community.”
  • Extensive criminal record
  • History of violence

About the data in this report

The Virginia Parole Board posts PDFs listing the decisions it makes each month. When the board denies parole, the PDF also lists one or more reasons.

To begin this investigation, we converted 70 PDFs — all of the Parole Board’s decisions from January 2014 through October 2019 — into an Excel file. The exported data, which included both decisions and reasons, totaled almost 76,000 rows.

From the Excel file, we extracted the Parole Board’s decisions in parole cases only (regular parole, geriatric and board review cases). There was a total of 17,240 cases.

We then used Excel’s pivot table feature and Microsoft Access to calculate the percentage of parole requests had been granted or denied each year.

Written By Emma Gauthier and Anna Madigan, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash.

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