Summary
Inmates at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison set themselves on fire in 2024 to protest alleged abuse, solitary confinement, and lack of medical care.
Emails reveal prison staff discussed charging the inmates for their medical treatment and prosecuting them for arson.
Advocacy groups and former inmates have long criticized the prison for excessive solitary confinement, abuse, and retaliation.
The Virginia Department of Corrections denies wrongdoing but faces lawsuits and a pending ombudsman investigation into prison conditions.
And this has been happening under Biden for the past 4 years, Trump the 4 years prior, and Obama the 8 years prior to that. Pretending like the election would have made any difference is absurd.
this is disengenous. on the federal level it has to be regulation on the states that is not easy. the state of virginia is run by republicans and what you see at their state levels goes to our federal levels.
States violating people’s civil rights is definitely a federal issue. Prisoners just don’t get any sympathy so there’s no political capital to gain by ending these injustices and that’s all that matters to politicians regardless of their party affiliation.
it is and only one party puts in judges that honor the constitution and the bill of rights. im saying its not something that the president can quickly or easily intervene in. Again its about who does and who does not as a general course of action.