THE FREE VIRGINIA MOVEMENT
THE FREE VIRGINIA MOVEMENT

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE
FREE ALABAWA AND WISSISSIPPI MOVEMENTS

January 26, 2016
Revised March'18, 2016

OUR_PURPOSE

The Free Virginia Movement (EVM) is a In-
dustrial Workers of the World (IWW)-supported,
Inside-Out, multi-racial statewide movement,
founded and run by people - curremtly in-
carcerated in Virginia prisons.and sentenced
under the so-called "no-parole" or "85%" law.

The function and purpose of the FVM is to
organize all 85% law prisomers into one poli-
tical bloc or movement so that we can effect-
ively oppose & challenge excessive sentences,
long-term incarceration & mass incarceration
as a result of abolition of parole and the
implementation of truth-in-sentencing laws
enacted by the VA General Assembly back in
1994; and unjust, inhumane & oppressive prison
conditions which endangers, jeopardizes and
hinders our spiritual, physical, mental &
emotional health & well-being and which runs
counter to our growth and rehabilitation
efforts here in the VA Department of (In)Corr-
ections. *We put the prefix "In" in front of
Corrections as our acknowledgement that most
of the policies and procedures of the VA
Dept. of Corrections in:iregards:to.prisomers
are in fact incorrect¥

OUR_ORGANIZING STRATEGY

The FVM seeks to bring the entire VA prisoner
class sentenced under the 85% law and outside
Human Rights & Prison Advocacy Groups together
across Racial, Gender, Ideological, Religious
& Geographical lines-’thereby creating a cross-
denominational United Front unlike anything
ever seen in the VA prison system.

At every stage of the struggle we have petit-
ioned the courts, filed grievances and patiently
waited for the VA State Government & Courts and

—\—
the VA DOC to take corrective action in the
most humble of methods. But just like the in-
stitution of chattel: slavery, mass incarcera-
tion is. in essence an economic system which
uses human beings as its nuts & bolts. There-
fore, our ney approach must be Economically-
based. As such; in the event our concerns and
pleas for redress of. our grievances continue
to fall on death ears while the VA State
Government, the VA DOC & private corporations
1like JPAY, KEEFE COMMISSARY, GLOBAL TEL LINK,
etc. continue to benefit from our exploitation
and long-tern confinement, we agree that it
may be mecessary to engagé in o statewide, pro-
active, peaceful & nonviolent collective work/
hunger'strikes, boycotts, or any other DIRECT
ACTION to compel the VA State Government and
the VA DOC to be more receptive to our concerns
& demands listed below. The accumulation of
wealth' & the oppression & social control of
New Afrikans (Blacks), Mexicans, Latin@s,
Asians, and poor whites is the motive behind
mass-incarceration-here in Virginia. Therefore,
an economic response will be our most effect-
ive strategy, beginning September 1, 2016.

OUR GOALS (What We Want)

1..The Reinstatement of Parole for all in-
carcarated people currently serving a sentence
under the so-called 85% law by Repealing VA
Code Section 53.1-165.1 and 53.1-202.3, and
Restoring parole eligibility under VA Code
Sections 53.1-151 through 53.1-155; and Good
Conduct Allowance under VA Code Section 53.1
201. The above Restoration of Parole and Good
Conduct Allowance must be Retroactively applied
to ALL incarcerated genpl. currently serving
sentences under the 85% law.

2. The Amendment and Reenactment of VA Code
Section 19.2-303 so that ALL people currently
incarcerated in the VA Dept. of (In)Correct=

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ions can petition the Court that heard his/her
case for a suspension/reduction/modification
of the unserved portion of the sentence after
1) serving a base minimum of twenty (20) con®
secutive years in prison and, 2) after the
complétition of an Education/Rehabilitation/
Reentry Preparedness Program. The Amendment
and Réenactment of VA Code Section 19.2-303
must be Retroactively applied to ALL people
currently incarcerated in the VA DOG.

3. The Amendment and Reenactment of VA Code
Section 19.2-298.01(B) & (F) so that the sen-
tencing Court must provide an adequate written
explanation when it sentences a deféndent out-
side (over) the recommended sentencing guide-
lines to allow for meaningful appellate review
of said sentence ; -to promote-the perception
of fair sentencing and to provide an appellate
remedy when Courts imposes ::sentences that are
ten (10) years or more outside (over) the re-
commended sentencing guidelines, The Amendment
and Reenactment of VA Code Section 19.2-298.01
(B) and (F) must be Retroactively appiidd to
ALL pecple currently serving sentences undex
the BS% Iaw for whom the guldelines were created.

4. The Amendment and Reenactment of VA Code
Section 53.1-40.01 so that the qualifying age
for consideration of early geriatric release
(so-called parole) is the age of 55 or older
and who has served at least five years of the
sentence imposed or the age of 50 years or older
and who has served at least ten years of the
sentence imposed. The Amendment and Reenactment
of VA Code’ Section must be.Retroactively applied
to ALL people currently incarcerated in the VA
Dept. of (In)Correctionms.

5. The Amendment and Reenactment of VA Code
Section 53.1-43.1 so that ALL income, profits,
etc. gained by the VA DOC as a result of in-

vesting interests gained from inmate: funds in

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bonds and federally-insured investments; be
used SOLELY for the purpose of prisoners’ re-
habilitation, education, treatment, recreation,
etc., and NOT for the behefit of the VA State
Government or VA DOC officials.

6. The Amendment and R
Section 53.1-43.1 so that in addition to amy
prisoner who has been sentencéd to be executed
or is serving a life sentence, any prisoner
who is serving a de facto "numerical" life
setence of fifty (50) years or moe upao the
85% lav, shall be exempt from the withholding
and depositing ten (105’ percent of his/her in-
coming funds into a savings/trust account

75 The Abolition/Repeal of any VA Dept. of
(In)Correction policy, practice and procedure
which endangers' our. spici

vA
Operatin Ivg(c)(ik)
which prohibits prisone om_completing more
than one Career and Technical Education Program
(CTE); B) VA DOC's" 0.P. 601.6 (IV)(c)(9) which

discrinin prisoners with lengthy
s

to enroll in a CTE
ner on a seperate fim {1-?’:

may take yeers to enroll in a GTE
Pprogram; C) VA DOCs "cost saving" pilcuuu of
aselgning one inmate to multiple job (work)
ignments which hinders other inmates from:
signed to. job (work) assignment "to
learn job skills and develop good work habits
at [we] can appply to jobs after
Evu} are released," q\wtlni VA DOCs 0.P, 841,1
IV)(B)(4); D) VA'DOCs. rac ally and politicaily
potivated practice of censoring/disepproving
books, newspapers, magazines, newsletters, ste.
¥hich ere gearéd towards an African-American
Leftist, Radicaliand Progressive audfence;

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VA DOCs "cost saving" practice of denying Hep-
Wtitis C postive inmates FULL acceas to FDA-
approved drugs like Harvoni, Sovaldf, etc. which
has a 951 cure rate in as little as eight (8)

F) VA DOCs "cost saving" practice of re-
gularly feedings/serving inmates cheap soy, pro-
50 and other syarhebic meate which are’kiown
bythe FDA to e various forms of cancer if
consumed on a regular (prolonged) basis; G) VA
DOCs counter-productive and "cost saving" prac-
tice of not Yruvi.dh\g up-to-date nchnuioa -
based educational & career programs. VA D te

current educational & career programming are
{ike relics of the past when compared to pro-
grams offered to American citizems out in the
general public. VA prisons must move tovards a
technological educational & career programning
ce to

system, and to not do so, is a dissery:
VA inmates and the communities weé'll
return to. Therefore, educational & ca
(veoeational) training must be up-to-date and
resemble as closely as possible that of educa-
tional & career training offered to the average
American citizen so as'to prepare inma for,
the conditions of normal occupational 1
VA DOCs prohibition against allowing im to
purchase and possess Swintec Clear Cabinet Type-
writers (or some other model typewriter) through
the commissary or & private vendor. This type-
writer is sanctioned by the American Correct-

Assgciation (Acd and is allowed for pur-
by inmates in federal and state prisons
in 38 states.

WAY THE PREE VIRGINIA MOVEMENT

Violent Offender Incarceration & Truth-
in-Sentencing Incentive Grants and the
85 % Law in Virginia

A federal known as the Violent Crice
Gontrol and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

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(VCCLEA) included a provision called the
Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth-
in-Sentencing incentive grants (VOITIS) which
provided grants (fiunding§ to state and local
correctional systems to expand their capacity
to incarcerate violent offenders and impose
longer and more determinate sentences. VOITIS,
codified into federal law as Title 42, U.S
Sections 13701, 13702, 13703 and 13704, w
sponsored and introduced to the U.S..Congress
by former Representative Jack Brooks (TX-9)

and signed into law the following year by then-
President Bill Clinton.

Before states could qualify for VOITIS grants,
they were required to pass (adopt) truth-in-
sentencing legislation which effectively ab-
olished parole and mandated prisoners convict-
ed of a class 1 felony to "serve not less than
85 percent of the sentence imposed..." citing
Title 42, U.S.C.S. Section 13704.

Lacking the funds necessary to comstruct more
prisons to account for its expanding prison
population, VOITIS provided Virginia with the
incentive to abolish parole and implement the
85% lav for crimes committed on or after
January 1, 1995. This legislation (House Bill
No. 5001) was sponsored and introduced in the
1994 General Assembly Session by then-Republican
Delegate Randy Forbes and signed into law by
then-Republican racist Governor George Allen.
It must be noted that this bill passed in the
General Assembly with little resistance at a
time vhen both the House and Senate was con-
trolled by Democrats. .

House Bill No. 5001 was codified into law
as Virginia Code Annotated (VA Code) 53.1-165.1.
Consequently, the amount of good time credits
prisoners could earn to reduce the period of
our incarceration for good behavior was reduced
from a maximum of thirty days credit for each
thirty days served per VA Code 53.1-201 (before
parole was abolished) down to a maximum of

—b—

four and one-half days credits for each thirty
days served under VA Code 53.1-202 (after parole
was abolished). Prior to the abolition of parole
and the dramatic reduction in good time credits,
Virginia's prison population was approximately
18,600, As of 2013, the prison population has
ballooned to almost 40,000.

Between 1996 and 1993, twenty-eight states
that enacted truth-in-sentencing legislation
collectively received over $680 illion in
VOITIS grants, according to the U.S. Dept. of
ot iee®™0ttice o Justice Programs. Fifteen
out of fwenty-seven states that received VOITIS
grants in 1997 indicated that these grants were
ither o key or partial factor in their enact-
ment of truth-in-sentencing legislation which
Tequires prisoners to serve 859 of his/her
entence, including Virginia.

Between 1996 and 1998, Virginia alone recei-
ved & total of $11,201,786 in VOITIS grants
Which was put towards the comstruction of two
hew maximum and two mew super-maximum security
prisons i rural white parts of Virginia:
Blssex 1 State Prison, Sussex 2 State Prison,
Red Onion State Prison and Wallens Ridge State
Prison. All four of these new "state-of-the-
art" prisons began accepting warm bodies in
1997 and 1998, many of them contracted from
out of state.

Because of tough-on-crime policies like
Three Strikes, Mandatory Minimims, Truth-in-
Semtencing and the abolition of parole, ‘the
Searall Uos. prison population has increased
9007 between 1970 and 2010. As a result, the
U.S. has the largest prison population- at
2.5 million- in the world.

To Virginia, New Afrikans (Blacks) make up
only 203 of the overall state population, but
a whopping 60% of the prisen population; And,
almost all prisoners come from poor or working-
class communities.

Toughoon-crime policies like those mentioned

above represents a gross racial and soci
injustice deeply embedded within America's
criminal (in)justice system and working-class
citizens are left to foot the bill for mass
incarceration to the tune of $80° billion
nationwide.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

As of 2014, the Virginia Dept. of (In)Corre-
ctions' annual operating budget has grown to
over $1 billion, which is paid with tax dollars
as well as with capital gemerated from the
cheap slave labor of prisomers who toil in
Virginia Correctional Enterprises (VCE)-oper-
ated sweatshops, disciplinary fines, kickbacks
from Keefe Commissary, Glabal Tel Link, JPay,
etc. and the interests gained from prisoners
Savings Accounts.

It costs almost $30,000 a year to keep long-
term, rehabilitated prisoners locked up for
crimes many of us committed,in.our youth.

A question that we collectively demand an
answer to, is: If Virginia stopped receiving
VOITIS grants in 2007, and VOITIS grants were
a key or partial factor in Virginia's decision
to abolish parole and implement the 85% lav,
why are WE are we still forced to serve 85% of
our sentences?

The abolition of parole has not significantly
prevented, reduced or deterred crime any more
than it did prior to 1995, but has succeeded
only in increasing the prison population and
the VA Dept. of (In)Corrections' annual op-
erating budget to one of the highest in the
country, while also confining long-term, re-
habilitated prisoners for decades with no rea-
listic oportunity for release.

On June 24, 2015, Virginia Governor Terry
McAuliffe sought to correct (or at best, corre-
ct) these problems when he signed Executive
Order #44, creating the Parole Review Commi-

e

ssion to "address five significant priorities
related to Parole Reform:

1) Conduct a Review of Previous G
Subsequent Outconss: The Comloston chaTt e
Fiew uhether ‘soTishing pevole achieved the in-
tended goals of,preventing new felony offenses,
reducing crine, and reducing recidivisa. The
Commission's analysis shall include, at a
minimum, a qualitative analysis of pre- and
Post-1995 trends in crime rates, incarceration
rates, sentence lengths, and recidivism rates.

2) Examine the Cost of Parole Reform/Abolit-
ion. The Commission shall conduct an analysis
OF the fiscal impact abolishing parole has
on the Conmonwealth, as well as 4n analysis of
societal costs on communities and families from -
longer incarceration.

3) Evaluate the Best Practices of Other States.
The Commission shall research and evaluate what
policies and practices has proven successful or
Unsuccessful in other states, and explore the
application of the most successful approaches
in the Commonwealth.

4) ommend Other Mediation Strate,
Commission shall examine what other appr
could be used to achieve similar results
terms of preventing mew felony offenses, re-
ducing crime, end recidivism? Virginia must
pursue cost-saving, evidence-based, and multi-
faceted approaches to reducing crime while
so improving outcomes for offenders, families
and_communi ties.

5) Provide Recommedations to Address Public
Safety Challenges. The Commission shall pro-
5126 Tte Tecomsendation on how Virginis aay
best position itself to address the public
safety challenges resulting from changes to
parole. These final recommendations shall in-
cludeany proposed legislative or
branch actions necessary, as well
tential private sector engagement....

Per this Executive Order #44, the Commission

_,‘1,

was required to: provide an ‘interim report to
Governor McAuliffe no later than November 2,

3015, vith a final report due by Decenber 4,

Seeing that a total of five public meetinge
were held by the Commission where the ideas,
opinions, concerns and comments of families
and friends of priso¢mers and other concerned
citizens citizens, members of the public and
other community organizations in favor of
parole reinstatement/reform repeatedly fell
on deaf ears; Seeing that the Commission and
its three subcommittees chose not to recomm-
end reinstating parole because state Republi-
cens appointed to the Commission vers openly
hostile to the ides of reinstating parole
and even vowed that parole will never be reir
stated so as so long as Republicans constitu-
te the majority in the Gemeral Assembly, and
because "The Commission [and its three sub-
cbmmittees] did not specifically address re-
instating discretionary parole due to the
1limited time for the Commission and the inte:
elated and complex tasue (including incon-
lete data), which made this issue difficult
to address in the time period allowed," Comm:
Final Report and Recommendation,

4, 2015, page 5; Seeing the
Commission's Report tl final; S that Re-
ublicans will constitute the majority in th
irginia General Assembly for the forseeable
future; And as result, seeing that mass in-
carceration, overcrowded and understaffed
prisons, draconian truth-in-sentencing sen-
tences; no parole (85%) ldw, long-term in-
carceration with no realistic npzo:tunlty fo
release, cutbacks to rehabilitative/educati-
onal/treatnent prograns, and the VA Dept. of
(In)Corrections® policies, practices and pro
cedures designed to intentionally aggravate
the suffering inherent in our incarceration
WILL PERSIST UNLESS WE ACT, it is time WE

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UNITE and ORGANIZE peacefully and mon-violent-
ty across racial, social, religious, gender,
teligious and geographical lines inside ALL
Virginia prisons to bring about sustantive
change via coordinated work strikes, sit-

downs, boycotts, hunger strikes, ete. be-
inning Septeabar 1,2016 through January
2017, HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR
cHaTNs!
1. Bduca

many prisoners ou can
s

at your prison, institution, facility, ete,

about the Free Virginia Movement, Start a FVM
chapter where you are at and conduct strate-
8izing sessions about how to organize a work
Stgik

this pemphlet gitational apd
izing tool to spread the work abqut this
ent. If you can, make coples of this pan-
and pass them out to other prisoners,
expecially prisoner-workers.- WE must-bduild
Bagullr opinion about the need to engage.in
LECT ACTION. Thay yay, on September 1, 2016,
WE will all be on the same pese; With this
¢collectiye, coordinated work strike, WE can
and will) shut the whole prison system down.
t be aware of informants/infiltrators who

e this Movement compromi-
before it starts.

t should address or champion,” send them’to

, ¢/o J. Bollin, y P.O. Buxfifi? Midlothian,
ginla 23112, Write to the TMA/EWOC and re-
FREE membership at P.0. Box 414304,
Kansas City, Missouri 64141.

-

Vi

4..If you have comrades/friends/ associates
at other Virginia prisons/institutions/facili-
ties, find a way to send word to them that
beginning September 1, 2016 through January 1,
2017, the IWW/IWOC and the Free Virginia
Movement is calling for a collective/coordin-
Ared statewide work stoppage/strike and other
forms of DIRECT ACTION. Get you family or
friends on the outside to post this movement
on social media.

CONCLUSION

The VA DOC is operating over budget. The
state is bleeding money. Our family, friends
and concerned citizens on the outside, as well
as community organizations and several state
and local politicians are advocating for the
reinstatement of parole. There is a nationwide
push on both the state and federal level for
criminal justice reform. But so-called reform
will not come easily here in Virginia as evi-
dence by the Parole Review Commissioin refusal
to recommend the reinstatement of parole even
though that was the main reason the Commission
was established in the first place. WE must
agitate from the Inside.vhile the issue of
mass incarceration and criminal justice reform
femain a hot topic nationwide.

The theory is that if ALL Virginia prisoner-
workers stop working and just SHUT DOWN, the
VA DOC-will collapse because the state {and
VA DOC) will have to pay a fair minimum wage
to all prison (state) employees to do the same
jobs that prisoners were doing for a slave
wage (.27to .45 cents/hour); either the state
will have to spend more money (which it don't
have) to hire more correctional officers to do
the extra work or correctional officers will
start quitting from having to perform the extra

—\2-
hard work, like cooking, cleaning, maintenance,
of slaving in VA DOC-VCE sweatsheps just. re
keep the' money flowing to make a profit and to
offset the costs associated with this system
of 35,000 prisoners.

Now'is the time for ALL Virginia prisoners
to UNITE as one under the Free Virginia Move-
ment. Now is the time to ACT! Let's SIEZE THE
MOMENT on September 1, 2016!

Diring an interview, a wise man once stated:

"The greatest mistake of the movement has been
~trying to organize a sleeping people around
specific goals. You have & wake the people up
first, then you'll get action.

"Wake them up to their exploitation”, the in-
terviewer ‘asked.

"No", the wise man replied, "to their humanity,
to their own worth."

WE should ALL agree that we deserve to be
treated like human beings- with justice, fairness
and basic human rights. So, being that WE are
not treated like human beifigs; are not.afforded
justice and fairness, and our self-worth and
human rights are consistently trampled upon, WE
MUST rebel on September 1, 2016 through Jandary

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THE STRUGGLE
CONTINUES

The 85% law equals genocide and must be abolished!

Relnstate parole nowlil

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