Virigina Department of Corrections Smuggle Drugs and Extort Prisoners

Today, July 30, 2022, a Saturday at 7:30 AM, a helicopter flew close to this prison’s yard. We had just been let out into the yard as cattle are moved through the fencing and gates. Two minutes later they shut down the yard and herded us all back into the building. The staff said they had to “search the yard”: never mind that the helicopter did not fly over the yard for more than a second; never mind that the amount of drugs on this compound are at an all-time high, and flowing in freely as the Virginia Department of Corrections (VA DOC) attempts to stop it all fail short. There is a reason for this, but, let me back up a bit.

Years ago, before my wrongful conviction and unlawful captivity, the VA DOC decided that, in order to prevent the flow of contraband, all mail should be photocopied. Certainly, if the VA DOC prisoners were no longer receiving actual mail they could not be receiving the contraband sent in “by family and friends”. Even though, statistically, this is a non-sequitur flying in the face of known logic and the real cause of the problem, the VA DOC went ahead with the foolish plan and the contraband still flowed.

At some point it was decided that all incoming property, books for example, while coming directly from companies such as Amazon, would be subjected to a hold and search. This search would include x-ray and dogs. Logic would dictate that with all mail (except legal mail) being photocopied with the originals shredded and all property subjected to extensive and excessive searches, the VA DOC would nip that contraband problem in the bud. Unfortunately for the VA DOC, and, as per usual, that did not work out as planned.

The VA DOC decided that stripping prisoners before and after every in-person visit was logical as their other foolish attempts. It was invasive, excessive, and it solved nothing. At one point the VA DOC put a policy in place mandating that visitors who were menstruating remove their tampons before being allowed to have their visitation with their loved ones. This was in 2018 and the VA DOC was even able to come up with a spokeswoman, Lisa Kinney, to actually defend this insane action. The VA DOC was eventually forced to drop this depraved barbarism, but attempt speaks clearly enough. Also, the problem of contraband persisted.

Then COVID hit. Pocahontas State Correctional Center, like most prisons, took the low road and instead of reducing prison populations by 60-70% as recommended by every major health group (The Center for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization), PSCC went on to a full 24/7 lockdown. What better way to ensure the spread of a deadly disease is there? No visits of any kind; an even longer hold on mail; food delivered to the cells; top tier and bottom tier separated and for periods of time only one cell out for 10 minutes at a time, twice a day - these were the implementations put onto us. PSCC, and all prisons, had now become maximum-security prisons “as ordered by the CDC” (contrary to, actually). Somehow, despite all this, that contraband just kept coming through the gates. Figure that one out.

Just recently, the VA DOC, in their increasingly impressive – and wholly questionable – exercise of critical thinking, finally figured out the cause: It must be the legal mail. Local courts and lawyers: the Virginia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Virginia. The Fourth Circuit and the U.$. Supreme Court. These must be the culprits…you cannot make this stuff up. Now, along with the dizzying array of failed policies that have produced exactly zero results, the VA DOC implemented a policy that illegally routed all legal mail to a “centralized processing unit” to be put through some search or another. It is all clearly nefarious, but, more importantly, it is a grotesque violation of constitutional rights – specifically, the Sixth and Fourteenth amendments (attorney/client privilege, access to the courts and due process). This epic display of intelligence went into effect July 1, 2022. Shortly after we spent 10 days on a lockdown without reason. Finally, the contraband problem was dealt with. This time for sure, right? Wrong!

The contraband keeps coming through the gates. It always will because the VA DOC is not looking at the root of the problem. To be more precise, the VA DOC is deliberately and willfully ignorning the root of the problem. It knows what the problem is, and it has known it all along. Acknowledging the problem opens a can of worms in Virginia’s already long history of destruction. The VA DOC contraband problem is a staff problem. The VA DOC doesn’t want citizens to know that it is no more than a colossal failure, and its staff are mostly criminals. Along with all the other, endless, false data the VA DOC feeds the public (low recidivism, nutrition standards, medical care, educational opportunities, everything), Virginia wants to hide the truth about its staff smuggling contraband.

For those familiar with PSCC this should come as no surprise. A large portion of PSCC staff are facing some level of in-house complaints, or worse. As of this writing, the Assistant Warden is allegedly facing multiple sexual harassment suits at more than one prison, including PSCC. The current Major, head of “security”, was chased off of at least one other compound for his gross abuses. One of the guards here is facing a lawsuit for physically assaulting a Black prisoner while the prisoner was handcuffed. The alleged incident was racially motivated – the guard has a long history of such behavior – and the incident is also currently the focus of a growing anti-Semitism case. The point is that the VA DOC, and Virginia as a whole, would much rather sweep problems out of the public eye, and let them fester. If it won’t investigate the more serious issues surrounding obviously sociopathic activities by its staff, why bother with a majority of its staff being involved in a smuggling ring? The VA DOC costs the taxpayers $1.1 billion, 25% of Virginia’s entire budget. Citizen’s hard-earned money.

Citizens, you are being lied to, openly, and you are being robbed. This is called a “complicated confidence scheme,” and you are all falling for it.