A number of incarcerated folks in Virginia’s high-security Purple Onion state jail have deliberately burned themselves in a protest in opposition to harsh circumstances on the facility.
A written assertion from Virginia’s division of corrections acknowledged that males imprisoned there had harmed themselves, though the authorities confirmed six incidents whereas others reported that 12 males have been injured.
“In latest months, six inmates at Purple Onion state jail have burned themselves utilizing improvised gadgets that have been created by tampering with electrical shops,” the director of Virginia’s division of corrections, Chad Dotson, stated in a written assertion.
Earlier this week, Virginia’s governor, Glenn Youngkin, additionally confirmed the protest and stated there was an investigation into the accidents.
“I do assume that a part of the investigation is to know how they’ve occurred and why they’ve occurred,” Youngkin stated. “Now we have been in conversations with the division of corrections about these circumstances.”
Dotson added that a few of these injured have been handled for burns on the corrections division’s “safe medical facility”, whereas others “didn’t require outdoors medical remedy”. All six have been referred to psychological well being workers “for remedy”, in line with Dotson.
In his assertion, he additionally stated: “To be clear, these inmates didn’t set themselves on fireplace or self-immolate, as some experiences have ludicrously recommended. The latest spherical of tales about Purple Onion are nothing greater than bad-faith efforts to attempt to rating low cost political factors by advocacy teams who pursue jail abolition and insurance policies that may make Virginians much less protected.”
Dotson’s announcement comes after reporting from the incarcerated journalist Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, who first drew consideration to self-harm on the state facility in October by his work on Jail Radio, a non-profit activist group.
Johnson reported that he had met a person in September named Ekong Eshiet, who claimed to have returned from the hospital the day earlier than after being handled for self-inflicted burns. On Jail Radio, Johnson stated Eshiet had advised him that “the racism and abuses, the onerous and inhumane circumstances at Purple Onion, have been so insupportable that he and others have been setting themselves on fireplace in determined makes an attempt to be transferred away from the jail”.
A couple of week later, Jail Radio additionally launched an audio recording from Ekong Eshiet himself, through which Eshiet talked about how he had began a starvation strike since coming back from being handled for his burns. He stated he was protesting “discrimination”, which he says he has to take care of each day at Purple Onion.
“I’m going about this the fitting manner, I assume, like with the starvation strike manner,” Eshiet stated. “But when I’ve to, I don’t thoughts setting myself on fireplace once more. This time, I’d set my entire physique on fireplace earlier than I’ve to remain up right here and do the remainder of my time up right here. I’d fairly die earlier than I keep up right here, as a result of each day I’m coping with discrimination, whether or not it’s behind my race, my final title or my faith.”
In keeping with reporting from Al Jazeera, Johnson, the incarcerated journalist, was put into solitary confinement in early November, shortly after he first drew consideration to the self-harm.
Noelle Hanrahan, the founding father of Jail Radio, stated in an interview that she had spoken with Johnson’s lawyer and been advised that Johnson had been positioned in solitary confinement.
Johnson’s preliminary reporting on Jail Radio talked about that he heard of 12 males at Purple Onion who had burned themselves, however Dotson has solely acknowledged six.
“We’re assured within the foundation of this story; the numbers we’re nonetheless drilling down,” Hanrahan stated.
The Virginia Legislative Black caucus (VLBC) group of lawmakers launched a press release on X condemning the circumstances at Purple Onion.
“The VLBC is horrified at latest experiences of incarcerated people setting themselves on fireplace in response to the degrading and inhumane circumstances at Purple Onion state supermax jail in Smart county, Virginia,” the group wrote in its assertion. “These acts of self-immolation are determined cries for assist.”
The caucus claimed in its assertion: “Individuals who have been incarcerated at Purple Onion State jail describe being frequently subjected to racial and bodily abuse from correctional officers, medical neglect together with the withholding of medication, extreme stays in solitary confinement with one report of 600 consecutive days, inedible meals having been coated in maggots and officers’ spit, and violent canine assaults.”
The group of lawmakers stated “a minimum of 12” Black males had burned themselves in protest.
A report from greater than 20 years in the past from Human Rights Watch stated Purple Onion “raises critical human rights issues”.
In a written assertion despatched to the Guardian in response to the six burnings, the Virginia state senator Barbara Favola stated that the division of corrections “should function our prisons in a protected, humane and rehabilitative method”.
“I encourage the governor to order an unbiased investigation of those allegations,” Favola stated.
In his assertion, Dotson stated that on quite a few events, the division of corrections had invited “all legislators” to go to Purple Onion state jail.
“Now we have, specifically, despatched private invites Tuesday to each member of the Virginia Legislative Black caucus in response to their assertion,” Dotson stated.
Miriam Nemeth, deputy litigation lawyer on the Washington, DC-based advocacy group Rights Behind Bars, has been representing Johnson, who first wrote in regards to the protest from jail, and he or she additionally advised the Guardian that he had been put into solitary confinement on 4 November.
She accused the jail of enacting “never-ending retaliation” in opposition to Johnson “for his efforts to talk out”. Nemeth stated she was not at the moment capable of communicate to Johnson and he or she had been advised by the authorities that he had been put in isolation for his personal security after a risk in opposition to him.
The Guardian requested remark from the Virginia division of corrections on this facet of Johnson’s scenario, however didn’t obtain a response previous to publication.
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