There are now multiple online testimonies from people incarcerated Red Onion State Prison alleging they set themselves on fire to get out of the Wise County facility — citing racism and abuses.
Most are recorded by Prison Radio correspondent Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, who has been incarcerated at Red Onion several times for at least a decade, but will be transferred to another prison as part of a settlement agreement. According to his attorney, Johnson didn’t burn himself but has been reporting on the situation. From Dec. 26, 2023 until March 5, he went on a hunger strike in an attempt to be moved to another facility.
In one recording published Oct. 18, Johnson recalled a conversation he had with Ekong Eshiet, one of the incarcerated men who burned themselves.
“He told me simply that the racism and abuses, the hard and inhumane conditions at Red Onion, was so intolerable that he and others were setting themselves on fire in desperate attempts to be transferred away from the prison,” Johnson said.
Eshiet and his mother, Martha Pritchard, can be heard in separate Prison Radio recordings speaking about the situation in greater detail. Pritchard told Prison Radio that her son had to have emergency surgery and is now on another hunger strike to try and get out of Red Onion.
Johnson also read a statement from Demetrius Wallace in a recording posted Dec. 4, reporting that Wallace was tear-gassed and beaten at the facility — which led him to burn himself.
Reports of Eshiet’s and Wallace’s experience say they weren’t immediately transferred to a hospital to have their burn wounds addressed for a few days. Wallace also told the Virginia Defender this in a recent interview.
Eshiet reports having his Quran thrown on the floor.
“I would rather die before I stay up here, because every day I'm dealing with discrimination, whether it’s behind my race, my last name or my religion,” Eshiet said on Prison Radio in a post dated Oct. 25.
Miriam Nemeth, Johnson’s attorney with Rights Behind Bars, told VPM News that while she’s secured an agreement for his transfer out of Red Onion, she’s concerned about others incarcerated there.
Nemeth said that while at the facility, Johnson faced racialized physical attacks including an assault that involved his dreadlocks being violently torn from his head, retaliation for speaking out about the conditions and refusal of water during his hunger strike — which is all documented in court filings.
She said even though Virginia passed a law that took effect in 2023 restricting the use of solitary confinement, it’s still happening at Red Onion and is part of the reason why people incarcerated there keep attempting to get out of the facility.
Nemeth said Johnson has been repeatedly subject to solitary confinement — and started his hunger strike right before he was going to be held there again.
“These are extreme actions that should signal to all of us that something is really wrong,” Nemeth said. “No one deserves to be kept in conditions that are so bad that they need to stop eating for 70 days, or they need to light themselves on fire to get out of those conditions.”
The facility has historically been the subject of other lawsuits and watchdog reports about poor conditions — including a 2001 report by Amnesty International and a 1999 report by Human Rights Watch.
The ACLU has filed multiple lawsuits over Red Onion’s use of solitary confinement — and in 2021 reached a settlement agreement involving a Red Onion inmate who was kept in solitary confinement for more than 12 years.
A spokesperson for VADOC told VPM News the facility doesn't have solitary confinement and that “our agency recently participated in an American Correctional Association (ACA) audit, which demonstrates our Restorative Housing Units meet and/or exceed national standards related to time out of cell.”
The most recent accounts from incarcerated individuals at Red Onion have gotten the attention of Virginia lawmakers: The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus recently issued a statement expressing concern about the conditions at Red Onion and called for an independent investigation.
In a Nov. 26 press release, the group called for the Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office — as well as the newly created Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman and its oversight committee — to investigate the latest allegations.
According to Maggie Sotos with the Office of the State Inspector General, the VADOC ombudsman role was filled in late September, and the department is in the process of staffing five specialists that report to her.
“We are aware of the allegations of abuse at Red Onion, and are in contact with our colleagues at the Virginia Department of Corrections,” Sotos said in an email. She added that the first Corrections Oversight Committee meeting will be held this month.
Phil Wilayto, co-founder of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom Justice and Equality, is skeptical about what a new ombudsman can accomplish, especially in terms of an independent investigation.
“I think it’s smoke and mirrors,” Wilayto said.
The group is calling on state lawmakers — particularly members of the VLBC — to personally investigate, given the challenge Chad Dotson, head of VADOC, sent in response to the group’s statement.
“I want to thank those legislators who have made the effort to visit Red Onion and encourage those who have not yet visited to do so at your earliest convenience,” Dotson stated on Nov. 27. “We have, in particular, sent personal invitations Tuesday to every member of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC) in response to their statement.”
Dotson has disputed prisoners’ statements about the facility’s conditions but confirmed “six inmates at Red Onion State Prison have burned themselves using improvised devices that were created by tampering with electrical outlets. To be clear, these inmates did not set themselves on fire or self-immolate.”
Wilayto’s organization is holding an event on Saturday in Richmond’s East End to raise awareness about the situation at Red Onion. The public meeting will be held starting at 2 p.m. at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church.
He said organizers will read excerpts from mail they’ve received from those incarcerated at Red Onion over the years. They’ll also have speakers and show the documentary Up the Ridge about a similar facility in Big Stone Gap, to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.
“There have to be personnel changes and systemic changes of Red Onion,” Wilayto said. “But we think the real solution is to shut it down.”
