In just the month of April, eight men have gone on hunger strike, multiple prisoners have slit their own arms open, and one set himself on fire inside Red Onion State Prison - he was sprayed with a fire extinguisher and was not taken to the hospital.. These are not isolated incidents—they are acts of desperation in response to illegal solitary confinement, medical neglect, retaliation, and abuse.

People are being warehoused, silenced, and broken inside facilities that operate with impunity. This is not just cruelty—it is torture.

And it is part of something bigger: a system rooted in white supremacy, racialized punishment, and the legacy of slavery. These prisons—staffed mostly by white officers in poor Appalachian counties—disproportionately cage Black, Brown, and working-class people. Inside, they are subjected to coercive isolation, sexual harassment, untreated illness, and retaliation for speaking up—with no functioning grievance system and no meaningful oversight.

This is racialized violence carried out by the state, in our name, with public money.

That must end. By taking action, you help ensure that every Virginia senator, delegate, and corrections official is placed on record—not just as someone who received notice of this crisis, but as someone who chose to intervene or looked away.

We act now because lives are at stake—and because disappearing people in cages should never be accepted as normal.