Prison considered charging inmates who burned themselves in protest for 'intolerable' conditions

After six inmates partially burned themselves last year to call out what they say are “intolerable” conditions at a Virginia maximum security prison, staffers there weighed whether to charge the inmates “thousands of dollars for the hospital and medical treatment,” according to emails obtained through a public records request by The Appeal, an outlet that covers the criminal legal system. 

In the messages published by the news nonprofit on Wednesday, Red Onion State Prison’s chief of security suggested charging the inmates for their care after the burns, while an assistant warden suggested prosecuting them for setting fires in their cells, adding that they could be charged for their hospital visits if convicted for the self-injuries.

“It should be noted that restitution, including the payment of medical expenses, is an authorized penalty allowed by VADOC policy,” Kyle Gibson, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Corrections said in an email to NBC News. “In these cases, hearing officers did not deem restitution as an appropriate penalty, and such a penalty has never been considered as a possible response by VADOC senior leadership.” The inmates did receive disciplinary charges, he added.

The six prisoners who harmed themselves last year with electrical burns and other people incarcerated at Red Onion said they have experienced excessive stints in solitary confinement, have been denied necessary medication or have experienced physical torture by correctional officers, according to attorneys for people incarcerated there, a group of state lawmakers and prison reform advocates. After visiting Red Onion on Dec. 30, Virginia delegate Michael Jones  said that he saw an inmate with injuries from being attacked by a prison canine and received numerous complaints from other inmates regarding food quality, medical care and racism. 

But one of the key complaints among prisoners is the use of isolation. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a federal class-action lawsuit in 2019 against the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) to stop putting prisoners in solitary confinement. The ACLU said they expect the case to go to trial but a court date has not been set. 

Kenneth Hunter was sentenced to 23 years in prison for a nonviolent drug offense at the age of 21. After serving his sentence, which included two years at Red Onion, Hunter told NBC News that there were “a lot of instances of physical abuse and excessive force.”

Hunter, whose sentence ended in 2021, said he spent his first year at Red Onion in solitary confinement. 

The Virginia DOC told NBC News that it does not deploy solitary confinement but a program called Restorative Housing Units. The American Correctional Association, a nongovernment organization that provides accreditation for prisons, regards restorative housing as “an assignment where the inmate is separated from general population and confined to a cell for at least 22 hours per day for the safe and secure operation of the facility.” The 22-hour rule also meets the United Nations’ guidelines for solitary confinement, although the international agency says such punishment should last no more than 15 days. 

The DOC did not address the length of Hudson’s time in the unit. Gibson, from the Virginia DOC, said in an email to NBC News that “inmates are provided at least four hours of out-of-cell time every day, which exceeds the two hours of out-of-cell time required by the American Correctional Association.” 

Ekong Eshiet, one of the prisoners who reportedly set himself ablaze, sent a message to Natasha White, of Interfaith Action for Human Rights, which advocates for reform in the criminal legal system.

“Plz be notified that I set my leg on fire 09/15/24, went to VCU 09/18/24 and came back to ROSP 09/24/24,” he wrote in the message shared with NBC News, referring to Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital. “Since i’ve came back I have faced retaliation and discrimination due to my complaints about all the crookedness I and other inmates continuosly have dealt w/ up here.” 

He closed out his message asking for help and added, “If I have to go thru extreme levels to get help, I will.” Not long after that, Eshiet told Prison Radio, a news outlet that focuses on prisoners’ stories, that officers withheld his medication, spit in his food and threw his Quran on the floor. 

Gibson said that the VADOC has “zero tolerance for abuse of any kind,” and that all claims of abuse are investigated.

Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, who had been serving a life sentence at Red Onion before he was transferred to another facility in the state, was the first to speak publicly about prisoners setting themselves on fire on Prison Radio in October 2024. Johnson has filed multiple lawsuits against the VADOC, alleging that he suffered physical abuse at Red Onion — including an instance in which his dreadlocks were torn from his head — and that guards spread rumors to other prisoners that Johnson was a child molester and a “snitch.”

Gibson, of the state Department of Corrections, said Johnson has “zero credibility” because he has accumulated more than 550 institutional charges, including sexually aggressive and severely violent acts. The VADOC declined to disclose documentation related to these charges. Johnson did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

The ACLU of Virginia filed a separate complaint in 2018 related to a program that the state says “allows offenders in restrictive housing more step-by-step opportunities to earn their way to a lower security status and lower security prisons.” 

The complaint said the prison kept a Spanish-speaking inmate in solitary confinement for 12 years because he was unable to complete the Step-Down Program, which was, at the time, only available in English. The case was settled in 2021 and the VADOC agreed to broaden language access for the program. The department did not admit liability. 

“At Red Onion State Prison the Department of Corrections calls it the Step-Down Program, and we filed the lawsuit because that program amounts to indefinite, long-term solitary confinement,” Geri Greenspan, an attorney with the ACLU of Virginia said. “They have no access to educational programs, no access to employment, no access to training programs.”

Gibson called the ACLU of Virginia’s assertions “ludicrous.” He added, “The VADOC operates under state law and is in full compliance with the Code of Virginia.”

More broadly, Gibson said claims that inmates faced retaliation for speaking out were “blatantly untrue.”

“The VADOC strongly believes in strengthening the bonds that inmates have with their loved ones through communication and visitation, and the Department is not in any way hindering inmate access to phones or U.S. Mail. All inmates in Restorative Housing Units have access to the inmate phone system and U.S. Mail,” Gibson said in an email. However, he added, inmates in RHU are not allowed to possess a media device. Inmates in RHU are allowed two phone calls per month, according to the VADOC.

Jennifer Dalton, founder of the Virginia Justice Alliance, a nonprofit focused on criminal justice system reform, said one of her clients, Levi Springer, said he entered solitary confinement in 2008 and was prescribed antipsychotic medication upon returning to the general population in 2020. However, the Department of Corrections said that he had only spent nine months in restorative housing throughout his incarceration. 

“The only reason they released me back then is because the ACLU came up here and visited me, and then they had the MacArthur Justice Center that came up here and visited me, and they were asking a bunch of questions, and I think they got nervous or something about that,” Springer, 48, said to NBC News.

Dalton said he eventually “leveled down” and was relocated to Augusta Correctional Center.

The department, Dalton said, “defied the doctor’s orders, put him in a cell with somebody else, stopped his medication, and then he had a violent outburst, and then they shipped him back to Red Onion where they placed him back in long-term segregation when he was supposed to go to a mental health unit.”

Virginia’s new corrections ombudsman, Andrea Sapone, announced in December that her office would launch an investigation into the conditions at Red Onion. The investigation will officially begin once the office, which was established in January 2024, is fully staffed.