Activists and family members of incarcerated people seek closure of Red Onion, Wallens Ridge prisons
An introductory note, a protest, mistreatment claims and a reported hunger strike
People gather at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond during a May 24 protest. (Credit: Dave Cantor)
I’m Dave Cantor, an award-winning reporter and editor based in Virginia. My work’s been featured by NPR, The New York Times and DownBeat magazine, where I was an editor.
My interest in Red Onion started toward the end of last year when I began reading Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg’s reporting on people incarcerated at the facility who’d set themselves on fire. Those pieces were predated by stories in The Virginia Defender, a publication by advocacy group Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality.
Regardless of what story came out when, self-immolation is an extraordinary measure to take — in any circumstance.
Weill-Greenberg’s reporting continued when Virginia Department of Corrections Director Chadwick Dotson addressed a state panel. And her most recent Red Onion piece was based on documents The Appeal obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, which were linked in the story.
The effort being put into Red Onion Resources is largely on my own time and not financially supported by any organization. This is just me thinking that people incarcerated at Red Onion State Prison and their families have a lot to say.
What I want this newsletter — and the attendant subreddit — to be is a repository for documents, information sharing and new reporting.
So, first off, a batch of VADOC documents are here.
If you’d like to reach out with information, documents, general comments or just to chat, please do. I’m here: cantor.dave@proton.me. And if you can, share this project with folks who might be interested and follow along on Reddit.
April Wright speaks at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond during a May 24 protest. Her son, Austin Arocho, is currently incarcerated. (Credit: Dave Cantor)
Activists and family members of incarcerated people seek closure of Red Onion, Wallens Ridge prisons
This story was published in collaboration with Virginia Public Radio.
A few dozen people gathered Saturday at the Virginia capitol in Richmond to protest conditions and alleged abuses at Wallens Ridge and Red Onion, supermax prisons run by the state.
The protest comes as allegations of abuse at Red Onion continue and follows multiple instances of self-immolation at the facility. Activists and family members of people incarcerated there claim multiple men are participating in a hunger strike because of their treatment.
April Wright — whose son, Austin Arocho, has been transferred between Red Onion and Wallens Ridge — drove to the capitol from near Winchester. She said her son is among the people who previously self-immolated and has been mistreated while in state custody.
Arocho has two years left on his sentence, and while changes at the facility likely would take longer than that to achieve, Wright said she’s voicing dissent for the benefit of future generations.
“It's not just our kids,” she said at the capitol as protesters, who also called for Virginia prisons leadership to be removed, relocated to a nearby public library. “If we don't make a difference now, it's gonna be our grandkids, their kids. … [The carceral system’s] targeting everybody who's either poor or middle class.”
According to text messages among Red Onion staff obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Corrections Ombudsman for the Office of the State Inspector General Andrea Sapone sought 13 pieces of information potentially connected to allegations of abuse at the facility.
Four days after the text messages were sent in December, an internal Virginia Department of Corrections investigation found there’d been no misconduct.
Sapone’s office, which was set up in late 2024 and hired staff through March, declined to comment on the specifics of the requests.
Maggie Sotos, the office’s spokesperson, wrote in an email that OSIG doesn’t comment on “pending or potentially pending investigations” — or when those investigations might be completed.
“Throughout December, OSIG was receiving many complaints but we were not able to investigate anything since our Ombudsman Specialists hadn't been hired yet,” Sotos wrote. “To ensure that complaints were not lost during this transitional period (and to comply with Code), the Ombudsman Unit recorded and contacted VADOC about each received complaint in order to verify which allegations should stay with us vs. which should go to VADOC.”
She added that the process “is more streamlined now,” pointing to a phone line that incarcerated people can call, when they’ll be asked if the VADOC grievance process has been started.
The VADOC process stipulates that “[s]taff are prohibited from interfering in any part of the complaint or grievance process and from retaliating” — though there have been multiple claims of retaliation for raising concerns.
VADOC spokesperson Kyle Gibson declined to respond directly to questions over alleged hunger strikes, recently reported incidents of self-immolation and other self-harm, as well as people who set themselves on fire being transferred to prisons outside of the commonwealth. Gibson hasn’t responded to multiple phone calls or emails since May 14.
The last email he sent said “the agency can confirm that Red Onion State Prison and all VADOC facilities are committed to the safety and security of our corrections team and inmate population.”
Del. Mike Jones, a Democrat who represents Richmond and Chesterfield County, visited Red Onion late last year. He perceived a systemic issue.
“The whole prison industrial complex is flawed,” he said during a recent phone call. “You can't change pieces of it. It just needs a major overhaul. But again, it can't be about making money. And unfortunately, we know that it was set up that way, right? Because that was the way they could enslave individuals again — because this thing is not about rehabilitating people.”
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Inmates and advocates say there's been little change to conditions at Red Onion (Radio IQ)
Otis Madison, who’s incarcerated at Red Onion, said he’s been in a fight with officers, bitten by a dog, threatened and retaliated against.
“They were burning themselves, because they were being mistreated, and no one was listening and correcting the people who were mistreating them,” Madison told Sandy Hausman.
The Rundown: Investigating Red Onion State Prison (WRIC)
There’s a fair amount of talking about reporting here. And maybe not a bunch of new information — especially if you’ve already taken a look at recent WRIC stories on Red Onion. But it’s an interesting behind-the-scenes discussion.
Former corrections sergeant breaks down Wallens Ridge attack (WCYB)
Wallens Ridge also has been in the news recently. After federal immigration arrests, people allegedly connected to MS-13 were involved in an altercation at the facility. Quick warning: The video included here is intense.