o the Governor

buse is uncalled STOP THE BRUTALITY OF

l officers need

there actions. INMATES AT RED ONION
VA STATE PRISON
Defying the Tomb:
804-786-2211
Prison Letters and Exchanges of

Kevin "Rashid" Johnson
Onion State Part 1
why he let's this
o make sure the
low through
ce procedure,
OSP.

= v30v0 aIVom MaN

SOUTH CHICAGO
ABC ZINE DISTRO
PO BOX 721
HOMEWOOD, IL 60430
A flury of activism followed the
summer, 2000 death of electro-shocked
prisoner Lawrence Frazier at Wallens Ridge
State Prison. Wallens Ridge is one of two
super maximum facilities in western
Virginia. One prisoner who has done time in
both Wallens Ridge and the nearby, Red
Onion State Prison, has carefully
documented that while the activism has died
down, the racist abuse and torture of
prisoners in these secretive facilities
continues.

Kevin (Rashid) Johnson, currently .
an inmate at Red Onion State Prison
(ROSP), documented numerous incidences
of Correctional Officers beating restrained
prisoners; and using tear gas, electrical stun
‘weapons, and five-point ambulatory
restraints to punish prisoners who do not,
Rashid writes, “show appropriate deference
and submission to guards.” Rashid also
reports denial of meals, confiscation of
‘mails, and Correctional Officers cnabling
the suicide of prisoners. He reports on the
failure of the inmate grievance process as a
measure to curtail this abuse.

Rashid’s complaints are not new.
Investigations of cruel and unusual
punishment, including torture, have dogged |
ROSP and its sister supermax facility
Wallens Ridge State Prison (WRSP) since
the prisons were opened in 1998 (ROSP)
and 1999 (WRSP). These prisons have been
the target of a 1999 Human Rights Watch
report (“Red Onion State Prison: Super-
Maximum Security Confinement in
Virginia”), letter-writing campaigns by

Amnesty International
and a 2000 investigatio
Division of the Depart
the Civil Rights of Inst
Act).

Following the i
changes in ROSP and
Angelone, Director of
Department of Correct
May 9, 2002. The stats
Connecticut, and the I
recalled the state and d
had bought cells for in
other changes seemed

Virginia's compliance
and intemational conv
of human rights. Howe
Commonwealth failed
the recommendations 1
Rights Watch in 1999,
Rashid , the abuse cor

|
1999 and 2000,

n by the Civil Rights

t of Justice (under

tdtionalized Persons

ntensive struggle for

WRSP, Ron

he Virginia

ons, resigned on

s of New Mexico and

cnfions on protection

vet, the

implement any of

Jc by Human
according to

must be treated
t 1q_r their dignity
ings and for
ntal rights,

Brutality Equal Kind and Usual Punishmagt

in Virginia,” to Governor Mark Wamer an
31 October, 2004. The Governor routed the
document to Sgt. D. Tate at ROSP.
According to Rashid, Sgt. Tate is “both the
ROSP investigator and a supervisor in the
superseg unit — he has himself been
involved in various prior abuses of
prisoners, myself included...” Tn fact, Tatp
is named frequently in Rashid’s exposé
and proceeded to find himself not guilty of
any allegations.

Rashid’s exposé ends with the
following statement: “The state’s
‘government is using a poor, economically
depressed and exploited segregated White
community to brutally oppress a vastly non-
‘white prisoner body, exactly as
impoverished whites were deliberately used
to savagely brutalize Blacks with license
and impunity during the chattel slavery
process of this same rural Amerikan south.
There is clearly no interest and no intent by
government officials to reign in such
abuses. (In fact, the situation is] created by

juerg-s
Fed Up! is a newly formed alliance of
concemned citizens, who oppose the abuse
and torture of prisoners at ROSP. We are

looking for allies and help with this
campaign to further expose the great
injustices occurring within the walls of this
‘Super Maximum Security Facility in the
‘mountains of wester Virginia.

Contact us:
FED UP!

5125 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
412-802-8575
de_tritus@yahoo.com

Contact Rashid :

Kevin (Rashid) Johnson #185492
Red Onion State Prison
P.0.Box 1900 Pound, VA 24279

http://www.rashid-art-attack.org/

To see the Human Rights Watch Report
on Red Onion State:

hittp://www.hrw.org rts/1999/redonion/

To see a great website on the reality of
Virginia Prisons go to:

Please take time to ite t
of Virginis. Tell him the s
for and that the correttio
to be held accountable for

Mark Wamer, Governor of
State Capial- 3* Floor
Richmond, VA 23219

Don't be shy, give ‘em a cal

‘Write the Warden of Red
Prison. Demand to know-
abuse continue. Tell him
immates are allowed to fol
‘with the standard grievan

Tracy S. Ray, Warden|of R
P.0. Box 970
Pound, VA 24279

Call him up too, 276-796-7

And then there is always
Virginia Department of Co
Headquarters

P.O. Box 26963
Richmond, Virginia 23261

804-674-3574