I'm in Housing Unit 2B right across from the currently notorious 2A. There have been several deaths in 2A and they've went largely unreported. In Virginia there are tens of thousands of men in these prisons subject to the whims of often times 'extremely' unprofessional staff- from the brass to the rank & file. Here in Virginia if you want to be a Correctional Officer you must first be trained at The Academy for Staff Development in Richmond. It's here where first begin to learn the methods of a predator. You then go on site as OIT (Officer in Training) where you get to practice being authoritarian while some jaded ass teaches you that your power is absolute. The problem with that is Absolute Power has been know to corrupt. And nowhere has that been more evident than here at Suss*x II State Prison where several prisoners have died due to either the negligence or down right deliberate indifference of the staff here. An prisoner who has chosen to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation wrote the following report for all of our consumption. "The first death was a white male we used to call Tennessee. He was probably in his 50's. Tennessee passed on Thanksgiving night from what we were told was some sort of health complication. Although, many people believe Tennessee died from a drug overdose- Hero*n & Fentyn*l. He wasn't being given proper care for his health issues and he spoke of how they became progressively worse. One thing I remember him always complaining about was his hernia. When they pulled him from the cell his body was fully exposed with no covering. There was no cadaver concealment body bag just him and his entire naked body for all to see. There was also a reddish- brown substance from his mouth and nasal area. Then there was another white guy, but I didn't know him. He looked to be in his mid to late 40's. This guy definitely passed away from a drug overdose- again Hero*n & Fentynal. His deceased body was carried from his cell on a gurny. This guy too was fully exposed without the proper covering. The reason why I'll never forget this guy is because his pale grayish body was rolled out and his eyes were open. It felt like he was looking directly at me. Then there was the most brutal of all the deaths. A guy we called "Ray Ray" beat and then stomped his cellmate, Johnny "China Man" Tran, to death. Both Ray Ray and China Man constantly begged several building supervisors to move them out of the cell with each other because they didn't like each other. Well I guess the supervisors felt like to hell with the VADOC'S concept of "Cell Compatibility," because they just ignored them. China Man, who was just 28 days from his release, was coaxing Ray Ray into fighting him. Ray Ray didn't want to fight him but after several attempts to get both officer Cl*rk's attention failed (because Cla*k was simply ignoring him )he eventually gave in. The altercation went on for at least 15 to 20 minutes, before other officers finally entered the Housing Unit (Pod). These officers however were coming into the Pod for unrelated reasons and just so happened to hear all of the commotion. When the officers started signalling for officer Cla*k they also had a difficult time getting his attention. When Clar* finally did respond it was too late. Six officers escorted Ray Ray, who was covered in blood, from his cell to solitary confinement. Several moments later China Man's body was removed from the cell by four different officers. China Man was dragged out face down wheel barrel style while fully exposed to all of us on lookers. You could see the blood pouring from his cracked skull. That murder could've and most definitely should've been prevented! And lastly just last week on March 1st 2018 a Black Male we called "Cupcake" died in his cell from a massive heart attack. Cake, as we used to call him, had been in prison since the late seventies or early eighties. He was what many would call a prison legend. In his last days he was a diabetic and was on chronic care for his heart issues. Cake use to always complain too about the Medical Department failing to give him his insulin shots and heart medications at the proper times. His body was discovered during mid day count by his cellmate and count officers. Apparently his celly thought he was lying there sleeping and when the officers asked him to stand for count that's when he realized ol' Cake had passed. They also pulled Cake out the cell fully exposed without proper covering and treated his body like garbage. All of these deaths could've been prevented with a better level of care by the state. Whether medical, security, or treatment so many people failed these men and continue to do this daily. Keep in mind this is just my pod, So many guys have died here! We need help man and people in society need to know that this Mass Incarceration Shit ain't working Askari. I appreciate you and all the people helping VAPOC expose this system. God got you bruh. And I'll help in anyway I can because somehings got to change."
CLOSING REMARKS FROM ASKARI: Here we see what happens when the state goes unchecked by the citizens. Here you have people having their hard earned checks taxed by Virginia to pay for institutions that increase the likelihood of death for some people. China Man was 28 days away from begin released and he was killed in a so called Supermaximum Security prison. Virginia spent over $100mil. to build this in a tough on crime wave that we now see was over hyped! My thing for you reading this is what do you feel when you hear these stories? What if it was your loved one? We are people before we are offenders and so demand that YOUR government treat us better. Because when it's your loved one or better yet you you'll wish had done more when you had the chance.
We are asking people to contact:
Governor Northam: (address) P.O. Box 1475 Richmond, VA 23218 (tel) 804-786-2211 (web contact form) https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/Communicating-with-the-governors-office
Secretary of Public Safety & Homeland Security (web contact form) https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/ (tel) 804-786-5351
Members of the Board of Corrections: Write to Virginia Board of Corrections 6900 Atmore DriveRichmond, VA 23225 (telephone) 804-887-7850 (web contact) https://boc.virginia.gov/
State Senator Jenifer McClellan (district09@senate.virginia.gov)