Corruption in the Virginia DOC

Part I
Today, July 30, 2022, a Saturday at 7:30 AM, a helicopter flew close to this prison’s yard. We had just been let out on the yard, as cattle are moved through the fencing and gates. Two minutes later they shut down the yard and herded us all back into the building. The staff had to “search the yard.” Never mind that the helicopter did not fly over the yard for more than a second. Never mind the fact that the amount of drugs on this compound are at an all-time high, flowing in freely and the VA DOC attempts to stop it all fail. There IS a reason for this, but, let me back up a bit.

Years ago, before my wrongful conviction and illegal captivity, the Virginia Department of Corrections (VA DOC) decided that in order to prevent the flow of contraband, all mail would be photocopied. Certainly, if the VA DOC prisoners were no longer receiving actual mail they cannot be receiving the contraband sent in “by family and friends.” Even though, statistically, this is a non-sequitur flying in the face of known logic and the real cause of the problem, the VA DOC went ahead with the foolish plan . . . and the contraband still flowed.

At some point it was decided that all incoming property, books for example, while coming directly from companies such as Amazon, would be subjected to a hold and search. This search would include x-ray and dogs. Logic would dictate that with all mail (except legal mail) being photocopied, with the originals shredded and all property subjected to extensive and excessive searches, the VA DOC would nip that contraband problem in the bud. Unfortunately for the VA DOC, and as per usual, that did not work out as planned.

The VA DOC decided that stripping prisoners before and after every in-person visit was as logical as their other foolish attempts. It was invasive, excessive and it solved nothing. At one point the VA DOC put a policy in place mandating that women visitors who were menstruating remove their tampons before being allowed to have their visitation with their loved ones. This was in 2018 and the VA DOC was even able to come up with a spokeswoman, Lisa Kinney, to actually defend this insane action. The VA DOC was eventually forced to drop this depraved barbarism, but the attempt speaks clearly enough. Also, the problem of contraband persisted.

Then COVID hit. Pocahontas State Correctional Center, like most prisons, took the low road and instead of reducing prison populations by 60-70%, as recommended by every major health group (CDC, NIH, WHO), PSCC went on to a full 24/7 lockdown. What better way to ensure the spread of a deadly disease is there? No visits of any kind. An even longer hold on mail. Food delivered to the cells. Top tier and bottom tier separated and for periods of time only one cell out for 10 minutes at a time, twice a day. PSCC, and all prisons, had now become maximum security prisons “as ordered by the CDC” (contrary to, actually). Somehow, that contraband just kept coming through the gates. Figure that one out.

Just recently, the VA DOC, in their increasingly impressive–and wholly questionable–exercise of critical thinking, finally figured out the cause. It must be the legal mail. Local courts and lawyers. The Virginia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Virginia. The Fourth Circuit and the US Supreme Court. These must be the culprits . . . you cannot make this stuff up. Now, along with the dizzying array of failed policies that have produced exactly ZERO results, the VA DOC implemented a policy that ILLEGALLY routed all legal mail to a “centralized processing unit” to be put through some search or another. It is all clearly nefarious, but more importantly, it is a grotesque violation of constitutional rights; specifically, the Sixth and Fourteenth amendments (attorney/client privilege, access to the courts and due process). This epic display of intelligence went into effect July 1, 2022, one month ago. Shortly after we spent 10 days on a lockdown without reason. Finally, the contraband problem was dealt with. This time for sure, right? Wrong!

The contraband keeps coming through the gates. It always will because the VA DOC is not looking at the root of the problem. To be more precise, the VA DOC is deliberately and willfully IGNORING the root of the problem. It knows what the problem is, and it has known all along. Acknowledging the problem opens a can of worms in Virginia’s already long history of destruction. The VA DOC contraband problem is a STAFF problem. The VA DOC doesn’t want citizens to know that it is no more than a colossal failure, and its staff are mostly criminals. Along with all the other, endless, false data the VA DOC feeds the public (low recidivism, nutrition standards, medical care, educational opportunities, everything), Virginia wants to hide the truth about its staff smuggling contraband.

For those familiar with PSCC this should come as no surprise. A large portion of PSCC staff are facing some level of in-house complaints, or worse. As of this writing, the Assistant Warden is allegedly facing multiple sexual harassment suits at more than one prison, including PSCC. The current Major, head of “security,” was chased off of at least one other compound for his gross abuses. One of the guards here is facing a lawsuit for physically assaulting a black prisoner while the prisoner was handcuffed. The alleged incident was racially motivated, the guard has a long history of such behavior, and is also currently the focus of a growing anti-Semitism case. The point is that the VA DOC, and Virginia as a whole, would much rather sweep problems out of the public eye, and let them fester. If it won’t investigate the more serious issues surrounding obviously sociopathic activities by its staff, why bother with a majority of its staff being involved in a smuggling ring? The VA DOC costs the taxpayers $1.1 billion, 25% of Virginia’s entire budget. Citizens’ hard-earned money.

Citizens, you are being lied to, openly, and you are being robbed. This is called a “complicated confidence scheme,” and you are all falling for it.

Part II
$1.1 billion. That’s the budget of the Virginia Department of Corrections. It represents approximately 25% of the entire State of Virginia budget. Of that $1.1 billion, approximately 25% is actually spent on prisoner needs and care, $234,075,195 in Fiscal Year 2021. What is interesting is that the breakdown, according to the VA DOC, does not seem to match up with the actual reality on the ground. The VA DOC Is, no doubt, spending enormous amounts of money, and yet it is plagued with consistently lingering problems that, given the dollars spent, should just not exist. As Illustrated in Part 1 of this series, the fault is squarely laid on capital VA DOC staff because, simply put, they are the people “managing” this rogue operation.

The best example of this obvious disparity between expenditures and results falls under the umbrella of “medical care.” These include lab, Medical/Dental Services, Clinic, hospital and x-ray services, and drugs. In FY2021 the VA DOC spent a reported total of $199,744,682 on prisoner medical/dental care. That number is up by $15 million from FY2020. That increase is associated with COVID, but it should be noted that the VA DOC prisoner population dropped by almost 5,000 people from FY2020 to FY2021. These expenditures account for 85.3% of the VA DOC “inmate costs.” One would then think that VA DOC prisoner health is the example. That could not be further from the truth. It is widely and regularly reported that the VA DOC medical care of prisoners is abysmal and among the worst in the US. Among the many issues being the quality (knowledge and skill) of those hired to fill the positions. One example is when Pocahontas State Correctional Center, a prison of awe-inspiring staff corruption, had a Head of Psychology–Ms. Boyd–who didn’t have any degree, least of all one in psychology. When it was discovered and exposed–by a prisoner–that prisoner suffered severe retribution and Ms. Boyd was promoted to the head of regional psychology. She has since been replaced.

Other medical issues, witnessed by this writer, include a wide array of the wrong drugs being given to prisoners. Making matters worse, the medical staff doing this seem to have no knowledge of the medicines they are providing. My father is a pharmacist, and I have lost count of the number of times he has been called to answer questions about the medications that are prescribed. PSCC medical staff cover up their lack of knowledge and skill by stating they are “not required to provide any information” when in fact they are bound by law to do so. Dangerous and inhumanely disgraceful. One must ask the question, “If they are qualified, why do they work for a DOC with an abhorrent record, that can never match the pay and benefits offered by a hospital or Urgent Care?” That question becomes more pointed when you consider that our country has a shortage of healthcare workers. Something is very wrong and needs to be investigated by independent oversight groups.

Given that the VA DOC is constantly facing lawsuits regarding its documented failures in prisoner care, it would not be a surprise to find that this enormous expenditure more often includes the lawsuit settlements. This seems even more likely since we know that the VA DOC doesn’t fire any of its corrupt and often criminal staff. Instead, they just move them to a different prison where they engage in the exact same dangerous, and harmful behaviors. Without a proper audit by a third party with no affiliations to Virginia and its DOC, the truth will remain obfuscated.

Another point of contention is the food costs for prisoners, listed as $19,487,694. That number is down from FY2020 by approximately $3 million. There is no confusion here. The food quality has dramatically decreased. In 2018 a report came out of Washington and Lee University showing just how bad it really was. The nutrition levels were horrific and percentages of disease, such as heart disease and diabetes, were 30% higher than every other DOC in the US, even those others were 10% above the national averages. This food cost vs. food quality should not only come as a shock but also be seen as corrupt. The VA DOC boasts average business revenue more than $12 million per fiscal year. It includes revenue from 7,000 acres of pasture, 1,800 acres of grain crops, 6,800 acres of forest and 600 acres of vegetables. How is it possible that prisoners are not being properly fed? A better question that is coming to the forefront is “where is all of that money going?” It becomes increasingly obvious that it is NOT going to prisoner care.

Inmate pay, clothing and personal care supplies, laundry and linen supplies are all listed, but again we find that the numbers just don’t seem to add up. For instance, “inmate pay” cost the VA DOC $8,776,464 in FY2021. The highest pay a prisoner might receive is $0.45 per hour, the lowest is $0.27 per hour. Many jobs are not 30– to 40-hour work weeks, and there are only so many jobs per prison. When you pull out a calculator you must do a whole lot of plug-and-play to come out with that much money per year. In fact, 50% of the total inmate population would have to work 40 hours a week, fifty-two weeks a year, at $0.45 per hour for this number to be, even vaguely accurate. Again, an independent audit is absolutely REQUIRED.

Another, apparently unlisted, source of income is the interest that accrues and is taken–-quite illegally–from prison trust accounts. Inmates are FORCED to put 10% of all money they receive into a “trust account” until it has $1,000 in it. The VA DOC tells the public it is so that prisoners have money when they are released. That is a lie and both VA DOC operating procedures and state code make it clear it is their strict way to pay off costs a prisoner might have owed. The VA DOC prisoners are not allowed to use that money for anything. That money is held in some sort of trust or escrow. The VA DOC has stated that that interest can be taken from the inmate to use for inmate care and services. Once again we discover the dishonesty of the VA DOC because their claim is false. The US Supreme Court has explicitly stated otherwise. In Waslefske v. Winston, 60 F-2d 534 (1999 US Dist.), and holding with standards of business, the US Supreme Court has held that the interest accrued is in fact the prisoner’s money and cannot be simply taken, and certainly not for the purpose of “needs and care.” The evidence that the VA DOC is NOT adherent to the law grows.

More interestingly is that the VA DOC reports a paltry $38,968 spent on the recreational needs of prisoners. That includes an unknown amount of kickback percentage of sales from its Keefe Commissary contract, rumored to be about 15%. It also, apparently, includes that interest. PSCC alone generates about $60,000 a year in interest, given the standard interest of a savings account and the number of people held captive here. That is one prison—out of 41 state prisons—and that is double what is reportedly spent on prisoner recreation. Prisoner recreation, I can assure you, is at an absolute bare minimum. Where is all that money going? Here is something to ponder. PSCC has a very small vegetable garden, hidden between two buildings and contains no more than 50 or so plants. PSCC staff claim it’s for the mental health pod, which is false, and that it cost PSCC $30,000. It cost about $700 at Lowe’s or Home Depot, but I wonder what the PSCC books show. Also, where are the vegetables going? Not into the PSCC kitchen.

An audit—and an investigation—by a third-party is necessary. More important, where the VA DOC is substandard across the board and regularly called out on that fact, how do they justify the budget they are provided? Staff are subpar and have no legitimate skills. Bonuses are fed into the pockets of any staff member who can cut corners, so food quality and portions drop, resources for prisoners disappear into staff homes or pockets, and state funds are redirected to staff projects. That creates the perfect environment for embezzlement, which is easily covered up. It screams “racket” in every way and begs for a RICO case, yet any sort of oversight is scoffed at by the Virginia Legislature and other relevant offices. Are they in on the scam? Legitimate questions. Questions that should be answered by anyone not associated with Virginia.

Part III
As we have seen, the Virginia Department of Corrections is staffed by, simply put, bad people. From the top of the pyramid in Richmond, where they shred through the Constitutional and human rights of those they hold captive, like so much toilet paper, to the newly hired backward Klansman – self-proclaimed many of whom can only barely read, the majority of VA DOC Staff cannot be called “good.” Nor can they be labeled as lawful. Time after time their staff are found to be deeply involved in unlawful acts and openly use their positions—the cloth badge on a cheap shirt—as a justification for it. We’ve already brought a few of the culprits to light, but how about we expose a few more? We know the VA DOC will never investigate any of the members of their little gang, so we can at least put the truth before the public eye. Let’s be honest, the entire public—80 percent of US citizens—have no faith or trust in state or local government and that is not a left-wing/right-wing split. If we can reinforce the reasons for that, and do so with simple facts, perhaps the citizens of this country will, finally, put their fists down.

Aside from the Assistant Warden and Major of PSCC, one of my favorite examples of simple badness is the former Warden of PSCC. He was recently sent to another prison after his affiliation with white nationalists—and the death of an inmate at the hands of a petty VA white supremacist—led to some problems for the VA DOC. Not enough problems for this dangerous man to be fired, not enough problems for the VA DOC to distance themselves from a warden who sympathized with a domestic terrorist group. They just shuffled him to another part of the state and put him in a position to destroy more lives. You would think that, at some point, the US DOJ would involve themselves with what is happening just across the river. They do not, and that too adds to the disdain for the government that most citizens now feel.

This previous Warden also lied to a Federal Court. That Court was informed of the perjury and did nothing. Which is worse you might think to ask. I have a copy of the case number and the paragraph numbers that expose his lies. I also know it has been reported, not only to the VA DOC, but to multiple officials in Virginia, as well as the media. This is just another day in the Old Dominion, and nothing they frown upon. Quite the opposite it would seem. The VA DOC seems to set the example for how Virginia operates. From Richmond politicians to the small-town courthouses, from the local sheriffs, the state police to the jails and prisons, dishonesty and bullying are the standard. At the VA DOC sociopathic behavior, dishonesty, siphoning of state resources and a sense of arrogance—based on sheer ignorance and a 7th grade education—are all to be praised.

Most of the guards peaked in life around 8th grade. Poorly educated and filled with racism and other deranged ideologies, if they are not abusing human beings they would be hurting small animals. What is frightening is that the VA DOC not only actively seeks out a certain, dangerous, psychological profile, but their “training” of DOC guards actually encourages miscreant behavior. They are taught to be abusive, to lie, to find ways to manipulate prisoners. They are led to believe they can treat human beings any way they choose, and the state will protect them.

A case in point is a PSCC Captain who had at least four known cold-blooded murders of prisoners. Every one of them covered up by the VA DOC along with the aid of local police/sheriffs. Rumors put the number at seven murders, those rumors coming from other staff as much as prisoners. This dangerous person, who by his very actions is proven an enemy of truth and justice, was finally forced to retire. Too many sexual harassment suits were filed against him by female staff. We understand he is now a Deputy in the same county and his son – who exhibits more extreme tendencies – no worries here. You just cannot make this stuff up.

That sort of family affair is all too common in VA DOC facilities, but in the Western mountains of Virginia where a Walmart and a prison are all the economy that exists, it is far worse. Sometimes three generations work at the same prison, ready to lie on each other’s behalf, so they might skim as much as possible from the till, so to speak. Add to that a VERY small-town mentality – PSCC, in Pocahontas population 500, in Tazewell County population 10,000 – and a dangerous level of both echo chamber and self-serving corruption becomes quickly apparent. That many of these small towns in dried up coal country are still “sundown towns,” minus the sign at town limits, only further exacerbates the issue. Compound that further by a state with as much as 20% innocent/wrongful conviction rate (PEW Survey) and you have what can only be called a worst-case scenario. This is what an American nightmare looks like. Welcome to Virginia.

This writer can provide evidence to support many of the allegations listed above. Along with that evidence we can provide evidence of at least one small town prosecutor who openly perjured himself to gain a wrongful conviction on false charges. This prosecutor did this to cover up a situation similar to that of Breonna Taylor just one state over. The prosecutor has been reported to, quite literally, every office in the state of Virginia. Every politician, every court, and the VA bar. Just as it is with the VA DOC, this is the sort of behavior, the sort of anti-American distraction, that is embraced by Virginia. I’ve traveled the US extensively, and my family has traveled abroad, not one of us has seen this level of corruption. One thing is certain, and the evidence supports such an allegation: Virginia has become a threat to freedom in much the same way as Russia or China. If that sounds hyperbolic to you, I can promise you that there are 5,000 wrongfully convicted and/or innocent prisoners who will tell you the same thing. There are tens of thousands of families, maybe even millions of families around the US that will agree.

The Virginia Department of Corrections is a rogue entity and is beholden to no one, not even the state where it is located. It ignores state laws and codes, including its own rules and operating procedures. It works diligently and without pause to usurp the rights of citizens at every step and by any means. This is no different than Virginia as a whole. It scoffs at freedom, ignores any evidence or truth that puts its autocratic anti-American cause at risk. Both the VA DOC, and the state of Virginia serve to encourage and embolden the growing threat of white nationalism, providing safe haven protections and access to resources. The evidence is not only clear, but well documented and available to anyone willing to scratch the surface.

Part IV

Having previously illustrated the rather obvious corruption of the Virginia Department of Corrections, the blame for which falls evenly and squarely upon the shoulders of its employees, there are few better examples of this ruin and rank despotism than the VA DOC’s response to the COVID pandemic. The word response is a bit misleading, a misnomer to be sure, for the VA DOC had no response, a point proven out by the rapid repetition of folly after folly that led to the infection of tens of thousands of captives. Those captives were\ repeatedly forced against their will – and all medical standards of practice – into a closed environment where ventilation consisted of nothing more than the recycling of unfiltered air. This solidified the spreading of infection. It was guaranteed that VA DOC captives, 25,000+ human beings, would be infected.

Most civilized societies, or anyone with the least bit of sense or compassion, would refer to this as “bioterrorism.” The US government has labeled lesser events as such, but the VA DOC called this “mitigation.” A non sequitur certainly, unless of course the goal was to cause harm through the deliberate spread of a deadly pathogen. In which case “mitigation” defines the problem as human captives. The VA DOC makes quite a sum of money housing captives from other states. Perhaps the problem was too many full beds?! Perhaps the VA DOC simply needed to “make room” for the next load of captives coming from other states? That would allow for the VA DOC to apply the word “mitigation,” but of course it would also expose the VA DOC to the general public as a dangerous threat to public safety.

Not so much of a stretch as one might think. Standards and practices, agreed upon and accepted, have clearly determined that concern of COVID exposure demands immediate testing, usually via nasal swabs. The VA DOC and, specific to the point, Pocahontas State Correctional Center do not follow this basic requirement. In fact, it has been documented and shown that VA DOC facilities, PSCC for example, sometimes wait as long as a week after a known case is found before doing any testing. Case in point is the COVID outbreak at PSCC which began August 21, 2022, a Saturday. That outbreak began with a case found in a kitchen worker. By Sunday, August 22nd, 24 kitchen workers were in “quarantine” in the gym.

Even though the infected had been handling the food for over 1,000 captives and about 100 staff (who go in and out of the community), there was not one test given to see if the disease had spread and, more to the point, how many others have been infected. It is understood and on camera that this outbreak’s “patient zero” reported symptoms, was left sitting in the medical unit cage where he interacted with several dozen other captives during the day, before being sent back to his pod without being tested. Thirty months ago, such a lapse in sense and procedure would have been merely status quo, stupidity on the part of the VA DOC consistently unskilled medical staff. This week it wasn’t stupidity, it was outright deliberate and with malicious intent. To call it anything else would be wrong. “COVID” is the main cheap excuse at PSCC to lock anyone down 24/7 and deny them EVERY right and get away with it. There are just not enough colorful adjectives to describe the VA DOC/PSCC staff . . . NEVER trust the government is the most valuable lesson of the day.

To further the point, even while waiting 4-5 days before doing a simple test, the fools – pretending to keep citizens safe – took away the microwave oven. This is not a safety and security action but was instead a way to keep captives from heating – and partially disinfecting – the cold slop they attempt to pass off as “food.” In a Washington and Lee University report (c. 2018), the VA DOC food was listed as a public health issue, known to cause heart disease and diabetes at a rate of 30% higher than any other state DOC, 40% higher than in the general public. These days, it is also known to spread COVID as well.

One example after another. The VA DOC is the antithesis of everything it has ever claimed to be. It does not correct, it does not reform, and it does not rehabilitate. It is a pseudo-governmental agency, born out of a Jim Crow South slaver cabal in an attempt to maintain an economy and industry based on slavery. This is beyond refutation. It is also a well-known cause of physical and mental health issues due to deliberate indifference from poorly or unskilled staff at every station. It is also a spreader of disease, both within the prison walls and outside those walls into the community at large. It is staffed at every level by some of society’s worst sycophantic miscreants, most of whom present dangerous levels of sociopathic tendencies and behaviors. It is regularly lambasted for its destruction of humanity, which has become so wrongful that it has now a history of skewing all its statistics by omitting data in some areas, and openly ignoring it in others (the VA DOC no longer tracks prison suicides because the number was too high to continue falsifying).

There is no oversight of this dangerous organization. There is a myriad of evidence of its debased and diabolical machinations. There is no shortage of victims who have fallen to its destruction. It is, quite probably, that enemy of American values we were all raised to trust. The VA DOC is a usurper and a charlatan, and it must be stopped by any and all means available to the citizens of this failing republic. Perhaps that sounds hyperbolic or verbose? Only because it’s true. That is, after all, how it always is with the truth.