Kevin Johnson, VADOC #1007485 / SCDC #397279, is being punished in South Carolina custody for writing, publishing, litigating, and communicating with the public about prison abuse.

This is not an isolated disciplinary issue. It is the latest stage in a long retaliation pattern involving Virginia and South Carolina officials: interstate transfer, solitary confinement, communication bans, publication censorship, reported chemical exposure, medical and dental neglect, legal-mail interference, deprivation of legal property, obstruction of attorney-client communication, fabricated disciplinary charges, and now a new disciplinary conviction for published writing.

In his pending federal civil-rights complaint, Johnson states under penalty of perjury that Virginia transferred him to South Carolina after his reporting helped expose self-immolations, racist abuse, and brutal conditions at Red Onion State Prison. Once in SCDC custody, he states that officials punished him for continuing the same work: media exposure, critical journalism, litigation, and public reporting. His May 20, 2026 recorded statement describes the current escalation: SCDC placed him in solitary on May 13, charged him with “maintaining a social networking site” because of two published articles, held a biased hearing, imposed 60 days in solitary, and added 100 days of phone, tablet/message, canteen, and visitation restrictions.

Officials must reverse and expunge the disciplinaries, release Kevin Johnson from solitary, restore all communication access, return his legal property, preserve evidence, investigate the full SCDC/VDOC retaliation pattern, and bring him home to Virginia.