Several inmates in Virginia prison try to ‘set themselves on fire’ to protest against ‘intolerable’ conditions

According to Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson, an inmate at Red Onion, prisoners allegedly took the extreme step in protest of “intolerable” living conditions and abuse. Back in September, two cellmates set themselves on fire, citing “racism and abuses,” he added.

‘Intolerable’ conditions and ‘abuse’

“The hard and inhumane conditions at Red Onion were so intolerable that he and others were setting themselves on fire in desperate attempts to be transferred away from the prison,” Johnson told Prison Radio.

Charles Coleman, another inmate who caused harm, said he had “suffered repeated physical, verbal and psychological abuse and denied treatment by Red Onion guards and medical staff,” according to Johnson.

Confirming the protests, Virginia’s governor, Glenn Youngkin, claimed that there was a probe into the injuries. “I do think that part of the investigation is to understand how they’ve happened and why they’ve happened,” Youngkin said. “We have been in conversations with the department of corrections about these circumstances.”

“In recent months, six inmates at Red Onion state prison have burned themselves using improvised devices that were created by tampering with electrical outlets,” Chad Dotson, the director of Virginia’s department of corrections, said in a statement, according to The Mirror.

While some prisoners were treated for burns at the department’s “secure medical facility,” others “did not require outside medical treatment,” and all the six inmates referred to mental health staff “for treatment,” Dotson said.

Dotson further said, “To be clear, these inmates did not set themselves on fire or self-immolate, as some reports have ludicrously suggested. The recent round of stories about Red Onion are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to try to score cheap political points by advocacy groups who pursue prison abolition and policies that would make Virginians less safe.”

Youngkin said he knows about the six cases of prisoners at Red Onion burning themselves this year. He added that the burns “have been fully investigated by our Department of Corrections. And I do think that part of the investigation is to understand how they’ve happened and why they’ve happened. We have been in conversations with the Department of Corrections about these circumstances.”