Kevin "Rashid" Johnson #185492

Red Onion State Prison

PO Box 1900

Pound, VA 24279

To: Concerned Parties

Re: Third Addendum to October 26, 2004 Report on Racially Motivated Abuses at Red Onion State Prison (ROSP)

Date: May 10, 2005

  This is a third amendment to my October 2004 report supplemented on January 1, 2005 and February 27, 2005, originally entitled "Red Onion State Prison, an Exposé - Racism and Brutality Equals Kind and Usual Punishment in Virginia."

  That exposé and its supplements described ongoing brutal and racist abuses of nonwhite segregation prisoners here at ROSP by white staff, and general abusive conditions as well as official authorities' blatant refusals to resolve those problems. The following is a factual account of such continued abuses and additional abuses not previously recorded.

  Since having circulated the original October, 2004 article, a copy of which was sent to the Virginia governor's office and routed back to this prison for pretended investigation and resolution by one of the very guards named in that report as involved with the abuses, I and other prisoners named in that report as prior victims of abuse have been specifically targeted for retaliations. Additionally, the new ROSP warden Tracy Ray assigned to this prison during or about January, 2005, has had ROSP staff - particularly those in the grievance department - deliberately destroying and refusing to process prisoners' complaints, which tend to confirm a continuing pattern of abuses at this prison. Ray has been enforcing this measure also to create an apparent record, or an absence of one, which gives the impression that the abuses exposed in the previous articles no longer or never did exist since no record will show prisoners complaining about abuses. Also, this prevents exhaustion of the grievance procedures in order to impair possible prisoner litigations. This is a clear effort to cover up abuses and avoid a redress and oversight.

Retaliations for Prior Report

  On April 26, 2005, a premeditated scheme to target each prisoner in superseg, who were named in my prior reports as victims of prior abuses, was staged by guards named in that report as principal actors in such abuses. Premeditated attacks on prisoners are often planned to occur on weekends when there are no administrative staff at the prison or regional offices.

  On that date during showers prison guards R. Boyd and Wright attacked George Slaughter #255923 in front and inside of his cell. Slaughter is the one white prisoner named in the October 2004 report as targeted for routine abuses because of his refusal to submit to ROSP guards' efforts to alienate him from black prisoners. Slaughter was in handcuffs and shackles and being brought out of his cell en route to the showers. His shoes were sitting outside of his cell where the guards had placed them during his strip search. Upon being brought out of the cell, Boyd told Slaughter to kick the shoes back into the cell, which he did. Without warning, Boyd then slammed Slaughter bodily into the cell door and threw him onto the floor, partially inside and outside of his cell. Boyd, atop Slaughter, began repeatedly punching him in the face and slamming his face into the floor, while Wright kicked him several times in the groin. The entire unit overheard, and some saw, this attack, which was carried out in direct view of the unit surveillance camera.

  Other guards entered the unit, including lieutenants R. Fowler and J. Honaker, Sergeant A. Kilbourne and several others. I was standing at my cell door inquiring of other prisoners what they had seen (as I was in the cell in the tier beneath Slaughter's cell and although I heard the entire attack, I could not see it) and writing down their responses. Fowler, Honaker, and prison guard plg R. Phipps came to my cell several times commenting sarcastically about my "taking notes" and asking if I was going to send out "another report to the governor." They also attempted to provoke me with verbal antagonisms, threats, and challenges which I ignored.

  These guards had Slaughter put into ambulatory restraints and "checked" by a nurse, W. Stidham, with a portable audio/visual (AV) camera filming this. The nurse's question to Slaughter was "Damn, did it hurt?" On the AV tape Slaughter narrated what happened to him and directed attention to his badly swollen and bruised face.

  Another prisoner, Lonnie Gholson #186066 - tired of the frequent assaults on and abuses of prisoners (himself included) and as a deterrent reaction to this - admits to kicking his cell door and smearing body waste over the open areas of his cell's floor and window area to compel the guards to cell-extract him and have to wallow in waste in the process. Gholson had packed all of his belongings up and stored them under his bunk away from contact with the body waste. Gholson's cell was one cell away from my own.

  I stood at the cell door in full view of the unit surveillance camera and was also repeatedly filmed by the portable AV camera which was trained on Gholson's cell. I stood observing guards in the unit, some of whom where inciting a protective custody prisoner (whom they also use to harass others) to also kick his own cell door to provide a row for the benefit of the AV camera while a couple of others who were actually enraged by the assault on Slaughter were also kicking their doors. The AV camera and he unit surveillance camera show hat I was never kicking my door or making any threats. I did comment for the camera that the guards were attacking another restrained prisoner and were threatening others, that the reactions in the unit were in response to this, and that plg Wright (who was operating the camera) kept putting his finger over the microphone on the camera to keep my statements from being recorded. In fact, he was signaling the protective custody agent provocateur inmate above Gholson to kick his door to drown me out.

  A cell extraction was performed on Gholson and he was out into ambulatory restraints in another cell until his cell could be cleaned. Lieutenant Fowler then went cell to cell hand selecting every other prisoner in the unit whom I'd named in the previous reports as victims of prior abuses and had us each put on strip cell for several hours. Fowler, Phipps, and the other guards then fabricated reports claiming each of us were kicking doors and making the exact same threat, word for word, viz: "We need to start killing these motherfuckers." Those confronted were myself, Christopher Tinker #283653, Timothy Morgan #242086 (Morgan admits to kicking his door but made no threats), Roberto Mejias #306726, Maurice Hawkins #242361. All of Tinker's, Morgan's, Meijas, And Hawkins property was removed from their cells. I was moved to a vacant cell while all my property remained in my former cell. While in the vacant cell I observed Sergeant A. Kilbourne enter Gholson's cell and remain inside for several minutes. He then came out, went to the unit office for an AV camera, and returned to the cell. Apparently he'd entered the cell the first time to run Gholson's belongings through feces, and then returned to find the property in that condition to make it appear that this was the state in which he originally found it. All of Gholson's property was then thrown away upon claiming that it was all contaminated with hazardous waste.

  While we remained on strip cell Tinker was arguing with  Phipps about the guards setting him up. Phipps along with Fowler and other guards then had Tinker put into ambulatory restraints upon false claims that he was kicking the door while in his strip cell.

  Upon being returned to my assigned cell prison guards R. Phipps, Wright, McConnell, and Mullins entered the cell and ransacked my property, tore documents, and did not return the notes I had made earlier about incidents of abuse in the unit. Phipps broke and confiscated my watch. 

  Under VDOC policy #432 strip cells are not to be used except only to search a person's property and/or cell upon probable cause, however, we were each placed on strip cell status because of (false) claims that we were kicking cell doors and making threats. The motive for confronting us with the strip cell placements was to provoke our resistance and refusals to be handcuffed and brought out of our cells, so that we could be therefore "justifiably" cell-extracted by a mob of armed guards consisting of the known abusive group named in my previous reports. Fowler predicted that we would refuse this placement, knowing we had done nothing to warrant it.

  Two days later, on April 28 (Monday), the institutional investigator T. Adams entered the unit to talk to Slaughter, during which time I was able to speak with him at my cell. I specifically asked that he view and preserve the pod surveillance and AV tapes of events in the unit on April 26, which showed the assault on Slaughter and guards deliberately selecting a specific group of prisoners - all nonwhites - for malicious strip cells who were not involved in any claimed disruptive acts (this would show false reports of disruptive acts and the targeting of a select group of prisoners). I requested that these taped records be preserved for future possible evidentiary uses because ROSP officials routinely destroy and erase taped records, despite that this is a crime in Virginia (See copy of text of VA Code section 18.2-472 herein). I followed this verbal request up with a written one. The next day - April 29 - I was moved to another unit.

  Upon speaking to Adams again on a later date he informed me that the tapes had been turned over to the internal affairs unit and an investigator, Barnes, but that nothing is expected to come of the investigation.

Inadequate Nutrition

  At ROSP and Wallens Ridge State Prison we are denied adequate nutritional diets. The statewide master menu which is adhered to by all VDOC prisons is never complied with at these two prisons. Meals consist of whatever the kitchen staff desire to serve. The daily diets, particularly at ROSP, has next to no fiber sources, while vegetable and fruit servings (no more than a total of two to four small servings given daily) are almost always rotten, unripe or overcooked and thus inconsumable or without any nutritional content. Meals otherwise consist primarily of starches, (breads and potatoes) with entire required courses from other food groups not served at all, or served in such small portions as to amount to but a small fraction of the required serving portion.

  The overall diet in quality and quantity consists of less than 2000 calories daily (being the minimum required by sedentary people). As of 2002 at these supermaxes the already inadequate rations were cut even further, admittedly to save money during a state budget crisis, by reducing our meals on weekends and holidays to only two meals per day. These are actually the same proportions we get on weekdays but with the lunch meal completely excluded.

  As a result of inadequate meal quality and portions all segregation prisoners I know suffer frequently with hunger pangs, and many are suffering a wave of dysentery and colonitis-type symptoms, prolonged and frequent diarrhea, frequent bloody or mucous discharge in stools, hemorrhoids, severe abdominal pains, weight loss/fluctuations, etc. Most prisoners suffering from these symptoms are reluctant to complain or seek medical help due to embarrassment at these symptoms and because the white prison doctor Williams frequently makes homosexual remarks (which many prisoners find demeaning an provocative) to those who come to him with complaints of these symptoms. Among those who have sought and received care for these symptoms are myself, Christopher Tinker #283653, Anthony Smalls #281754, Lonnie Gholson #186066, Calvin Hayes #303216, Maurice Hawkins #242361and many more. The most common and consistent symptom is that of prolonged diarrhea and bloody stools.

  The ROSP nursing staff are required under ROSP policy #718 to monitor all segregation prisoners' weight and health on a weekly basis, yet they all collectively refuse to do so to avoid evidence of our malnutrition and its toll on our health.

Obstructions of Complaints

  During 2004 I brought a state civil action (still pending) which required the state attorney generals office to obtain a copy of my prison grievance and complaint record to determine whether I had exhausted the prison's grievance procedure on all claims I'd raised. The review of my grievance record revealed a lengthy file of complaints in which prison officials in sarcastic replies had repeatedly admitted to a rash of abusive and illegal actions and many instances of overt cover-ups of abuses and lies.

  Subsequently, the attorney generals office in concert with the VDOC deputy director’s office had the entire grievance procedure modified to allow officials more leeway in refusing to process or answer prisoner complaints and deny prisoners' uses of the procedure.

  Under the September 2004 revised procedure no central record is kept of complaints and grievances that staff refuse to process. This is so that staff may effectively censor prisoner complaint records by reducing and stopping certain types of grievances (specifically those pertaining to racism, brutality and other illegal abuses) from entering the record, to prevent a pattern from being demonstrated of similar complaints, and to try to impair prisoner's litigation efforts upon claims that they have not exhausted the procedure.

  The ROSP grievance office staff have, since the new policy came into effect and since Tracy Ray became ROSP warden, systematically rejected almost every prisoner complaint addressing issues described above and repeatedly put articulate prisoners on complaint and grievance restrictions upon false claims of habitual abuse or excessive filings, yet they can never substantiate these claims by pointing to even a few specific instances of misuse of the procedure.

Violations of ACA Standards

  ROSP has been and is accredited by the American Correctional Association (ACA) and professes to abide by ACA standards while in actuality it does not. The ACA accredits ROSP as compliant when it is not, and is thus complicit in the ROSP abuses. It should be noted that Ronald J. Angelone is Virginia chairman of the ACA - Angelone was the VDOC chief director under whom ROSP and WRSP were constructed and began operating and repeatedly lied to the public concerning the need for and intended use of these prisons.

  Various specific instances of ROSP deviations from ACA standards are specified hereafter. ACA standard 4-4131 requires all single-occupancy cells to have 35 square feet of unencumbered space when confinement exceeds10 hours per day, and ACA standard 4-4134 requires that such cells to which confinement exceeds 10 hours per day also have "writing surfaces and proximate surfaces to sit." Prisoners are routinely housed in isolation cells in ROSP for no less than 23 hours per day (namely cells 301, 302, 401, and 402 in each of ROSP's-  A, B, C, and D buildings - a total of 16 such cells) that have neither 35 sq feet of unencumbered space nor writing or sitting surfaces. These cells contain only a sink/commode unit and a large restraint bed situated in the center of the cell floor leaving little space for unencumbered movement and exercise. I have been housed in such cells myself for months on end.

  ACA standard 4-4148 requires cell openings which admit natural light and have a view to the outside. ROSP cell windows to the outside have been covered over with a sheet of frosting that diffracts incoming light and prevents any view of the outside so as to subject prisoners to sensory deprivation and denial of a needed, natural source of vitamin D (namely sunlight).

  ACA standard 4-4150 requires that housing unit noise levels not exceed 70 dBA (A scale) in daytime and 45dBA (A scale) at night. However noise levels constantly surpass those limits and usually because of guards banging on and slamming cell door hatches night and day.

  ACA standard 4-4155 requires that segregation unit exercise yards have a minimum of 180 sq. feet of unencumbered space per person. The individual exercise yards at ROSP do not meet this requirement.

  ACA standard 4-4185 requires that the chief warden and all department heads visit prisoner housing units routinely to develop informal contact with prisoners. This does not occur at ROSP, indeed Tracy Ray as well as previous warden Daniel Braxton only handpicks select prisoners to confer with informally, and have them brought out of their housing unit and into an office.

  ACA standard 4-4222 requires that all housing units have a system for immediate release of prisoners in an emergency. This is not the case in C300 and C400 superseg units (a total of 44 cells) , which have manual locks affixed to the sides of each door preventing them from being opened electronically from the control booth. It often takes guards 10 - 15 seconds to remove one of these manual locks so that the cell can be activated from the booth. In an emergency these locks would be impossible to remove "immediately", especially with obscured vision from smoke or fumes. 

  ACA standard 4-4281 requires the protection of prisoners against abuse, corporeal punishment, personal injury, property damage, and harassment. As this and past reports make abundantly clear, no such protections are observed at ROSP.

  ACA standard 4-4400 requires that prisoners in segregation be assessed by medical staff and that health care providers visit such prisoners daily. This does not occur. Although nursing staff make pill rounds daily, they specifically refuse to consult with prisoners about medical issues at these times.

  ACA standard 4-4488 holds that there can be no limit on volume, length, language, content or source of letters, mail or publications received or sent out by prisoners, except when such endangers public safety or prison safety or security. However at ROSP prisoners can not receive incoming letters that weigh over one ounce (that is, they can not cost over $ .37 to post), cannot receive unused postage stamps, cannot receive photos larger than 4"x6", etc. thus limiting volume, content, length of letters, etc. Also, my October 2004 report "Red Onion State Prison: an Expose..." was published by a publisher in Illinois who attempted to return me a copy of the published format. This attempt was intercepted here by ROSP officials and has now been banned from entering all VDOC prisons upon claims that it endangers security (see attached). This absurd claim demonstrates the unity of efforts by VDOC officials to consciously conceal abuses from exposure, as anyone reading this report can see that it is simply a narration of abuses of ROSP prisoners, and any claims to it's being a security threat are obvious lies, as are most claims made by VDOC officials to cover up and deny the illegal and heinous conditions within its prisons.

  ACA standard 4-4491 requires that prisoners be informed any time mail is withheld in part or in whole. And ACA standard 4-4495 requires that incoming mail be held no longer than 24 hours. However at ROSP incoming mail is routinely held for weeks with no notification to the prisoners. The mailroom staff will falsely date the mail as having just been received on the date they decide to deliver it. When complaints are made they always say the Post Office is to blame, yet outgoing mail routed through the same post office tends to reach its destination in 2-4 days.

Attempts to Transmit Viruses

  A deliberate measure is enforced at ROSP and WRSP whereby prisoners in segregation are deliberately exposed to the possibility of contracting deadly viruses such as chronic hepatitis (C), AIDS and HIV, which are transmittable through bodily fluids and broken skin. The attempts are made through the use of leg shackles. There are many prisoners who have these viruses whom the staff knows about but the prisoners do not.

  At these prisons segregation prisoners are required to wear leg shackles any time we are brought out of our cells, and must often walk extensive distances in them. All staff knows that any time a person walks extensive distances in the leg shackles they will receive lacerations around their ankles and Achilles tendon as a result of the shackles rubbing back and forth in a semi-circular motion as one walks. The shackles thereby frequently come into contact with, and expose prisoners to, exchange of bodily fluids through these cuts, which cloth socks and garments do not protect against. ROSP and WRSP staff know of this danger, which is why latex and rubber gloves are made available to all guards and are required to be worn whenever guards handle restraints. No such precautions are taken for prisoners who must wear restraints.

  Leg shackles are used sequentially on prisoner after prisoner without cleaning or sterilizing (a time-consuming and inefficient process in itself). One pair of shackles may be used hundreds of times in a 12 hour shift.

  I know of prisoners who have contracted deadly viruses in segregation and thus could not have been infected in any other way, and I know guards at this prison who admit to efforts to transmit diseases to disliked prisoners in this manner.

Conclusion

  The conditions described above all jointly and severely violate well-established constitutional laws. However, there is a complete refusal on the part of any "authority" to address or correct them, making it clear that now, as well as in antebellum times, Blacks have no rights which white America feels bound to respect, protect or enforce. See Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 US 393 (1856).

May 10, 2005

Kevin "Rashid" Johnson