Prison Justice activists demand
‘Shut Down Red Onion!’The temperature was freezing and a municipal water crisis had many people scrambling to find bottled water, but more than 50 people still showed up at Virginia’s Capitol Square Jan. 8, the opening day of the state’s 2025 legislative session, for a rally about the crisis at Red Onion State Prison. The rally demands were: - Shut down the Red Onion & Wallens Ridge state prisons!
- Fire Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) Director Chadwick Dotson & Chief of Corrections Operations A. David Robinson!
- Independent Outside Oversight of VADOC - with Enforcement Powers!
Since mid-October, Red Onion has been the subject of … READ MORE
Events at Red Onion lead to
national media coverageReports about the events at Red Onion have appeared in more than 40 media outlets, including The New York Times, NBC News, the Guardian, Al Jazeera and Hindustan Times. A list with links is HERE.
Jan. 24 in Richmond:
Letter-writing event for Shaka ShakurShaka Shakur is a politically conscious prisoner, writer and activist now held at Virginia’s Buckingham Correctional Center. Many people, including the Virginia Defenders, support Shaka’s efforts to win his freedom. Part of this campaign is writing letters to Bernard Carter, Prosecutor for Lake County, Indiana, asking him to use his office to “return Mr. Shakur back to his family and community through post-conviction relief, modification of sentence, or any other viable routes.” Letters can be sent online HERE. In Richmond, the Shaka Shakur Defense Committee will hold a letter-writing event at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, at Matchbox Mutual Aid, 2919 North Ave. For more information, see the website https://www.shakashakur.org.
WANTED:
Volunteers to Help Support Virginia Prisoners!Each week, the Defenders receive letters and emails from men and women held in prisons and jails across the state. Some are looking for legal help. Some want to expose unjust conditions. Some just want to connect with someone who doesn’t look down on them just because they’re behind bars. The Defenders have been working on prison issues since 2002, when we helped get a man released from long-term solitary confinement at Red Onion State Prison. For years, we exposed inhumane conditions in the Richmond City Jail. In 2018, we co-founded the Virginia Prison Justice Network, which now has more than two dozen affiliates. In 2023, we hosted the People’s Tribunal on Virginia’s Prisons, Jails & Detention Centers. And throughout 2024 until the present, we’ve been working to expose conditions at Red Onion. Our quarterly newspaper, The Virginia Defender, is sent free to any Virginia prisoner who asks for it, and the paper is now read in two-thirds of all the state’s prisons. As an all-volunteer organization, we’re always looking for more people to help with this work. If you can spare a few hours a week, or even once a month, and would like to help support prisoners and work for the day when we can truly “tear down the walls,” then please think about working with us. Contact the Virginia Defenders at:
Phone / Text: 804-644-5834
Email: DefendersFJE@hotmail.com | 
