The following report was circulated by The Virginia Defender on 15 January 2025.
The temperature was freezing and a municipal water crisis had many people scrambling to find bottled water, but more than 50 people still showed up at Virginia’s Capitol Square Jan. 8, the opening day of the state’s 2025 legislative session, for a rally about the crisis at Red Onion State Prison.
The rally demands were:
- Shut down the Red Onion & Wallens Ridge state prisons!
- Fire Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC)Director Chadwick Dotson & Chief of Corrections Operations A. David Robinson!
- Independent Outside Oversight of VADOC – with Enforcement Powers!
Since mid-October, Red Onion has been the subject of increasing media coverage, by The New York Times, NBC News, the Guardian, Al Jazeera and the Hindustan Times, to name a few outlets, after longtime prisoner activist Kevin “Rashid” Johnson reported that a dozen men at Virginia’s Red Onion “supermax” prison in far-western Wise County had set themselves on fire in a desperate attempt to get themselves transferred out of that prison, long known for its racism and brutality.
The report was picked up by Prison Radio, an online platform for prisoner commentary, and by The Virginia Defender newspaper, which conducted an investigation that convinced “mainstream” media to report on the self-immolations.
After the state legislature’s Black Caucus called for an investigation into the prison, Chadwick Dotson, a former chief prosecutor and chief judge from Wise County who now heads up the entire Virginia Department of Corrections, admitted that at least six men at Red Onion had burned themselves, but implied that they all had mental health issues, while denying that Red Onion has any systemic problems.
Dotson also challenged all members of the General Assembly, and in particular members of the Black Caucus, to visit the prison, speak with the prisoners and see for themselves the conditions.
The Jan. 8 rally, sponsored by the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, featured two state legislators who had traveled to Red Onion.
Delegate Holly M. Seibold, from Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, visited the prison on May 10, before prisoners there resorted to burning themselves. She spoke with men held in solitary confinement and called for a range of changes at the facility. The delegate is introducing a bill to regulate prison temperatures. Among other issues, several state prisons have no air conditioning, creating life-threatening conditions during summers, when temperatures in Virginia can reach above 100 degrees.
Delegate Michael J. Jones, representing Richmond and Chesterfield County, traveled to Red Onion and on Dec. 30 spoke with Ekong Eshiet and Charles Coleman, two of the men who had burned themselves.
At the rally, Jones noted that many of the men he spoke with were from his old neighborhood in Richmond. He announced that he would be introducing a bill to forbid any prisoner from being sent to a facility more than 75 miles from their home. Red Onion is more than 370 miles west of Richmond. Going forward, Jones said he intended to visit Red Onion at least twice a year.
The largest part of the rally was devoted to reading statements from Eshiet, 28; Coleman, 37; Demetirus Wallace, 28, another Red Onion prisoner who had burned himself; and “Rashid Johnson,” 53, all of whom are Black; and three other Red Onion men: Donnell Hickman, 49, who is Black; Rubio Angel, 36, who is Latino; and Jason Barrett, 48, who is white.
Eshiet’s statement starkly underlined the seriousness of the crisis at Red Onion: “If I have to, I don’t mind setting myself on fire again. And this time, I’ll set my whole body on fire before I have to stay up here and do the rest of my time up here. I would rather die before I stay up here.”
Defender Phil Wilayto, editor of The Virginia Defender quarterly newspaper, wrapped up the rally by urging those present to continue pressuring the state prison system and the General Assembly.
During the rally, leaflets were distributed inviting those present to work on prison issues with the Defenders and to support a new organization founded by Johnson called People Against Prison Abuse.
The rally followed a public meeting sponsored by the Defenders on Dec. 7 at which more than 100 people heard letters from prisoners describing the conditions at Red Onion that led men there to burn themselves.
The 2025 session of the Virginia General Assembly was delayed because of the water crisis, but it is hoped that continued public pressure will help convince more members of that legislative body to make the trip to Red Onion and demand real changes there and throughout the Virginia Department of Corrections..
And the need for outside oversight is only growing stronger. A Jan. 8 story by The Appeal, an online media outlet that covers legal matters, documented how Red Onion officials have been discussing how best to punish the men who self-immolated in order to discourage others from following their example.