Virginia Prison Uses Threats, Bribes to Address Self-Harm

After half a dozen men at Red Onion State Prison set themselves on fire, the Virginia Department of Corrections asked incarcerated people to sign an agreement that offers incentives—such as a fish fry, free commissary bags, and group recreation—if they don’t harm themselves, says a local civil liberties group.  

Men in Red Onion’s Step-Down Program, where prisoners are confined to their cells for up to 20 hours a day, told the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia that prison staff distributed the agreement to them last month. The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) says people placed in the step-down program “can progress to a general population setting with the use of interactive journaling, therapeutic modules, and programming that is done individually and in group settings.” The ACLU says the program subjects people to long-term isolation.

The Inmate Safety Agreement, which The Appeal obtained through a public records request, states that prisoners will be rewarded if they comply with the agreement’s terms and punished if they do not.

It states, in part: “I commit to refraining from any form of risky behavior, including but not limited to self-harm or any actions that could cause injury to myself or others.” 
The agreement lists several “incentives” for those who “remain free from self-harm and other risky behaviors,” such as:

• 7 Day incentives (example: new movies and episodes of exclusive TV series) 
• 30 Day incentives (example: opportunities for group rec and activities, sports) 
• 45 Day incentives (example: free commissary bags) 
• 90 Day incentives (example: special meals, fish fry)

The agreement says that if they  “violate this agreement by engaging in self-harm, other risky behaviors, or refusing to cooperate with the safety protocols, the facility may take appropriate actions to ensure my safety, including additional monitoring or interventions.” If they repeatedly violate the agreement, they may lose privileges, “such as access to television, recreation time, or other amenities.”

Prisoners reported that staff threatened to cut off electricity to their cell outlets if they refused to sign, Geri Greenspan, an attorney with the ACLU of Virginia, told The Appeal. She said the men use their outlets to charge their tablets and plug in their televisions, which is the only way they can participate in religious services. Greenspan said two men who refused to sign reported that the electricity to their outlets was shut off. 

The Virginia Department of Corrections did not answer The Appeal’s questions about the agreement but confirmed that staff had shut off the outlets in cells occupied by people who are at risk of harming themselves. A spokesperson told The Appeal in an email: 

“We can confirm that the VADOC has turned off the electrical outlets (not the lights) in the cells of inmates who are deemed to be an immediate risk of self-harm and to permit the VADOC’s multi-disciplinary team the opportunity to further evaluate the mental health and wellness of those inmates.”

The Inmate Safety Agreement also asks prisoners to affirm that they have “access to mental health and other local resources.” 

However, prisoners and their loved ones, as well as lawmakers and civil rights lawyers, have long decried the prison’s conditions, especially for people with mental illness. A lawsuit from 2019 said that a man held in solitary confinement for over 600 days began to speak in numbers, lost over 30 pounds, and signed his name with a series of random letters. At a hearing in December on the self-immolations, one woman told lawmakers that while she was on the phone with her loved one, she heard guards beat a man who has a “mental health diagnosis.”.  

“I overheard officers beating another individual, his screams echoing in the background as pepper spray went under my loved one’s cell door, leaving him choking and struggling to breathe,” she said. “This is only one example of the abuse he and others face daily.” 

Internal emails obtained by The Appeal show that in the aftermath of at least some of the self-immolations, prison staff focused on “making them pay money.” They suggested charging the men for their medical care, which could be thousands of dollars, and pursuing criminal charges. A VADOC spokesperson previously told The Appeal that the six prisoners who set themselves on fire were charged with disciplinary violations—two with “setting a fire damaging or injury to person or property,” and four with “self-mutilation.” Prison Radio first reported on the self-immolations which were then investigated by The Virginia Defender.

Greenspan condemned VADOC’s response to the crisis at Red Onion. Forcing people to sign an agreement that “contains threats of consequences for exhibiting symptoms of mental illness, punitive consequences for exhibiting symptoms of mental illness, is just unconscionable,” she said.