Letter to the Editor #3—Washington Post

Dear Editor:

Here is the letter I just sent in to the Post.  Please write your own if you can and encourage others to send letters to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in response to "Virginia's Corrections System is a Model for Other States."  It's important to try to keep submissions under 200 words.  -- Gay

Although Virginia’s prisons are far from the worst in the nation and improvements have been made, they fall far short of Brian Moran’s “wholesale culture change.”

Moran should visit prisoners I know who have suffered abuse, including prolonged solitary confinement. They include—

• men studying the Bible at Nottoway Correctional Center who were thought to be discussing filing grievances about mail restrictions, for which they were charged with “inciting a riot,” sent to Red Onion, and placed in solitary confinement;
• a man who has endured 16 years in isolation and was required to repeat the “step-down” program five times for reasons that were never discussed with him;
• men with credible allegations of retaliation for filing complaints, ranging from withholding food to assault;
• men with documented mental illness who long for treatment but have received, at most, psychotropic drugs; and men placed in undocumented solitary confinement lasting weeks or months following disciplinary charges who were not allowed to speak, call witnesses, or have surveillance video reviewed at their disciplinary “hearings.”

These men would be surprised to know that “restrictive housing” is not used as punishment, that they received a fair hearing, and that all prisoners’ mental health care needs are being met.

Gay Gardner IAHR