DEMAND ACTION ON BEHALF OF PRISONERS IN RED ONION AND WALLENS RIDGE

Why This Letter-Writing Campaign Is Important

The horrific abuses at Red Onion and Wallens Ridge State Prisons demand immediate action. Incarcerated individuals are facing torture, medical neglect, retaliation, and systemic discrimination, and failure to intervene will result in further harm and possible loss of life.

However, we also recognize that simply sending emails is not enough to achieve justice. Letter-writing is one piece of a larger strategy—it serves to:

  1. Put Officials on Record – It’s critical that we document the fact that concerned community members are contacting these officials, urging immediate action. If they fail to respond, they cannot later claim ignorance.

  2. Expose Government Inaction – When officials receive repeated, urgent demands but refuse to act, it highlights their complicity in these abuses. This record strengthens future organizing efforts, legal action, and public pressure campaigns.

  3. Build Collective Pressure – While individual letters may be ignored, a flood of messages combined with other tactics (phone calls, media coverage, protests, legal action, and direct intervention) forces officials to address the issue.

  4. Support Those Inside – Incarcerated people know they are not forgotten when the outside world continues to advocate for them. This disrupts isolation and retaliation by prison officials.

This campaign is part of a larger struggle for justice in the Virginia prison system. Officials must act—but if they refuse, we escalate. We document, we build power, and we continue the fight.


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