The Paradox of the Incarcerated Psyche

Husayn Nix #1409604, Halifax Correctional Unit

“Oppression will drive even a wise man mad,” Bible Verse. A common axiom a person doing time hears at some point throughout their bid is that “prison is like the army, you can be all you can be.” This concept is very true! You can choose to be the same person you were when you came in, or you can choose to be a better version of yourself.

Remember that if you don’t care about your own rehabilitation, then no one else will, and that’s a fact! It is imperative that we use our time behind these walls as wisely and productively as possible. Every move we make has to be to the benefit and advantage of our reentry into society. We are always running low on time, but its still never too late.

Unfortunately, the mental wellness of the incarcerated is not taken into consideration by most, not all, state leaders. They should understand the same person that is serving time within an institution, will at some point during that time, become institutionalized. This disregard negates any weight that could be placed on mental wellness & their so-called awareness to public safety.

If we strive to find ways to get involved in the decision making process, we can begin to learn all of the moving parts that constitute the make-up of the very matrix of our political socio-economic construct.

Change is effected through policy, and policy is effectuated by change makers, or those who dare to make a change. We have to stop selling ourselves short, rise to our potential, and claim our net worth.

I came with Love, and I leave in Peace!

In Solidarity,
Husayn

A Message: Parole + Non-Violent/Violent

There is a lot of good that comes from what you are doing.

I wrote to the Richmond Times last week and spoke on the parole issue… I stated facts and can back it up… But it does no good unless everyone stands together… People want to go home, and I of all people respect that and I agree something needs to be done…

But everyone needs to understand that saying: ‘one crime is better than the other or one crime is violent and the other isn’t is wrong… Look, I’m involved in a start up program called Victim Impact: Listen and Learn. Its a straight forward concept that let’s real victims speak about what happened to them and what it does to them and their families… Not one said it didn’t do harm to them or their families. It is a fact that crime effects people in four main areas,: physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual… Some people has said they are locked up on non violent drug charges… Well let’s see here, the person dealing to people and getting them hooked on something that has them going out to steal, rob, or even murder a female priest for a confession plate just to be able to get the drug you got them hooked on… So the root of the evil was the person selling the drugs… Nonviolent overdoes?? Sorry but even stealing someone’s money without them knowing it causes harm regardless if you are there when it happens… We all need to do better in here and out there…

We all need to stop with, ‘I’m better than you’ crap, because that’s what is holding everything back… Illegal is illegal regardless… We want change from where we are at?? Then less start the change from within!!! Start with yourself, and with your partner and expand it out throughout the place you are at and then we will get the change we are looking for; because if we can’t change ourselves then those people out there are not going to want to help with our initial goals…

I just try to stay on point with what I’m trying to accomplish and I know its bigger than me… peace!!

Russell Browning

Hear My Voice!

Hear my voice! Hear my voice!

Is there anyone out there? If so please listen to my voice. I was given a 38 year sentence. Is anyone out there that has a heart? Please take a moment and ” Hear my voice .” I have served 23 years of it so far. I did commit a crime and yes deserve to be punished, but not for this long.
There was a question asked if I can identify with the extra stress brought on by the budget amendment for me, my environment, my loved ones and prisoners behind the walls. My answer would be “yes.” Do you hear my voice crying out in the wilderness? We have a Crisis on Mental Health in the world today. Sad to say not just in our Society, but also behind the walls of prison as well. Hear my voice! Some of us can identify and some of us don’t know how to identify with the situation of it because we have been in denial for far too long. Hear my voice!

Before my incarceration I attempted suicide not knowing how to deal with depression. I know 23 years ago in the black communities we kept things like that on a hush-hush. We were taught to be strong and yet stay silent. Looking back almost two and a half decades ago if I would have gotten help – I believe I would not be in prison still, 23 years later.

Do you hear my voice! People that have a mental condition are being locked up for decades at a time not getting the help that they need. It seems as if they just keep you suppressed with medication after medication. What do we do? We take the medicine just to get by. I believe D.O.C. really needs Mental Health programs that would help people deal with their problems head on instead of just coping with it.

Hear my voice! Hear my voice! I’m still holding on as best as I know how. I must say prison can really work on your Psyche. Especially being incarcerated decades after decades not being able to go up for parole or even have a chance to receive Earned Sentence Credit’s which I have earned my rights to receive. Having done all I can to rehabilitate myself by completing mind changing programs offered by D.O.C. as well as getting my G.E.D. in 2013. I have also been charge free for 18 years of 23 years of my incarceration. Do you hear my voice crying out in the wilderness? Is there anyone out there that has a heart will you listen to me, please?

Here at Caroline Correction Unit #2 I have put a Peer Recovery lead group together along with other men. Learning Objectives, such as understanding Mental Health and Addiction and more. Rehabilitating ourselves. Do you hear my voice!? I have learned in my 23 years of incarceration that if you want change, you have to start from within yourself. Men and women behind the walls to ensure that we get the right people in office. We have to educate our loved ones the importance of voting on the States level because it deals with the laws that affect our everyday lives out there and in here. In my closing men and women behind the walls keep your head up change is coming soon. Hear my voice!

Written By Jerry L James

Caroline Correction Unit #2

“Stress is What We Wake Up To.”

Stress is what we wake up to, walk with, and lay down with… It’s in our phone calls, our visits, and our mail… Its in our food, prices at the already high commissary, and a holiday package that costs more than you can afford! Its all around us, and how do we escape it?? We don’t… We have learned over time that people like “Youngkin,” do things for the political aspect of it.

Think back 30 years to when Governor Allen had Virginia… The scare tactic he ran off of and the way the system went down…. Youngkin is running in his shadows trying to gain a foothold in the political landscape off of our backs as past politician’s have done also. So for me, I try to live with it. When it gets to the point I think its winning, I stop everything and take a step back… So I embrace it, and at times I may need something to help me get up or go to sleep, but after 30+ years with no breaks and a lot of dreams, I think embracing it works better than fighting with it.

People, I’ve lost almost all of my family… I’m at the hands of the system and whatever it chooses to do… But I keep pushing for change!! Mental health in the system is not up to what society thinks it is in here. Think about it, the man at Marion who was killed last February 2022, by those COs who kicked him and one hour later they found him dead… That wasn’t the first time it happened. The medical staff at Smith County Hospital didn’t report the first incident in 2018 to the police, so they got by with it… Now they may never be prosecuted for killing a man with the brain of an eight year old child!!!

Mental health isn’t no where near were it should be in here… I’ve seen people who have actually lost it and because they are put into regular pods instead of mental health treatment centers, they usually get assaulted…

We need people who are committed to making big changes in this system and those who talk the game but don’t follow thru, make sure to impeach them from the office they received by your good graces… People out there can put them in office but can remove them also before their term is up if they don’t hold up to their campaign promise.

The old heads in the system like to say, (let the young bucks have it now)… We let the young people out there stand up to get their loved ones back from a system that’s not designed to rehabilitate, it just warehouses people for the federal dollars. Money is the only thing that talks…

Russell Browning, #1116214

OPPOSING SCALES: THE WEIGHT OF VIRGINIA’S ENHANCED SENTENCE CREDITS & 2022 BUDGET AMENDMENT

By David Bomber

From the moment that Don Scott, Delegate for the 80th District of Virginia, introduced the Earned Sentence Credits bill in 2020, the atmosphere in this state changed. Suddenly, it seemed like criminal justice reform in Virginia was taking on real meaning, that change was finally coming about. In turn, this bill energized advocates and incarcerated folks alike, as well as their families, and further gave everyone involved a glimmer of hope. What fueled that fire even more was during that same year John Edwards, Senator for the 21st District of Virginia, introduced a bill to reinstate parole – an extraordinary measure considering that parole had been abolished in Virginia since July 1st, 1995. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like the lawmakers here in Virginia were finally getting it. Perhaps all the hard work that everyone had put in towards criminal justice reform was finally paying off.

Although the Earned Sentence Credits bill eventually passed, it turned out to only benefit some, while it dashed the hopes for many others. Initially the bill was introduced to provide incentives to gain an earlier release for any given prisoner who demonstrated good behavior and worked towards rehabilitating themselves. Unfortunately, that same bill was amended later on to exclude violations of certain offenses, such as malicious wounding, homicide, robbery, etc. This means that those affected by these exclusions can only earn the same rate of “good time” as they always have, a maximum of 4.5 sentence credits for each 30 days served (for those under the “new law”). The other crushing blow came that affected all the new law incarcerated folks as well as their families is when Edward’s bill to reinstate parole was first “tabled,” then eventually defeated. Perhaps lawmakers here in Virginia aren’t getting it after all – keeping folks locked up isn’t the answer. If anything it exacerbates the issue of mass incarceration.

What followed suit after that can only be characterized as mind boggling. In Governor Youngkin’s 2022 budget amendment, a provision was adopted that precluded anyone with “mixed charges” to benefit from the Earned Sentence Credits statue. In other words someone with convictions for something like grand larceny & malicious wounding doesn’t qualify for Earned Sentence Credits based solely on the malicious wounding. To put it fairly, this amounts than nothing more than a Draconian policy instituted by the Younkin administration. It is no wonder that the ACLU of Virginia has filed two separate lawsuits over these matters – one of which was recently won because the Earned Sentence Credits statue was misinterpreted and ultimately misapplied by the Virginia D.O.C. The other, which hasn’t been decided yet, addresses Youngkin’s policy on the ineligibility aspect of those with “mixed charges.”

If anyone isn’t surprised by these things, it is I. Convicted in 2011 of aggravated malicious wounding & second-degree murder, both the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of Virginia’s determined that they could “not ascertain the legislative intent” and ultimately upheld my convictions – never mind that only ONE ACT was involved against the SAME VICTIM. From my perspective, it seems that Virginia has a track record of failing to interpret the statues properly, and further gives me the sense that I am being punished twice, unfairly I might add.

Similarly, the exclusions set forth in the Earned Sentence Credits & the 2022 Budget Amendment gives many incarcerated folks and their families a bleak outlook, particularly on criminal justice reform. As stressful and daunting as these matters are, now is not the time to roll over and pretend that these issues will go away on their own. The best thing that advocates, incarcerated folks, and their families can do to cope with these issues and bring about change is to take them on and get directly involved with Virginia’s lawmakers.

Thank you for taking time to read this. If you would like to get in contact with me directly, my contact info is enclosed below.

CONTACT INFO

To email me directly please visit http://www.jpay.com and submit Virginia ID #1130793 (Jpay is a service that the Virginia D.O.C. utilizes for prisoner communications with the public)(Note: this service does require users to purchase virtual stamps in order to send messages).

To follow my cause on Facebook:
@Justice4davidbomber

To join the conversation:
#freedavidbomber

To follow me on social media:
https://linktr.ee/freedavidbomber

For General Correspondence:
David Bomber #1130793
Nottoway Correctional Center
P.O. Box 488
Burkeville, Va. 23922

Acknowledgement of Prevention

Peace to the strong, resilient comrades in this fight for FREEDOM.

My name is Devin L Phillips #1158007, here in the field of Lawrenceville CC, YOU CAN CALL ME SADDIUM!!! There’s so much to be said about the current state of existence behind these walls..at times too many words dilute the message. Too much focus is placed on the negative, that we tend to disregard the positive, productive works put forth by those not recognized by the administration! To speak in metaphorical terms, all I would like to say is….

“We tend to always concentrate, and point out the many crashes, and collisions that occur at the intersection… how about we take a few minutes, to acknowledge the overwhelming number of accidents, and catastrophes that the under appreciated traffic lights, and traffic signs have, and continue to prevent???”

#weinthetrenches

SALUTE!!

“Wellness in the Age of Political Uncertainty and Extremism”

By Danny Thomas

As Virginians, we are still reeling from the shocking loss of political fairness and equality with the election of Youngkin and Miyares. Even today, I find myself asking what if McCauliffe hadn’t commented that “parents don’t have a right to dictate their children’s education.” You could clearly see his momentum wane by the second – as he also recognized this and brought in the “big guns” like Obama and national figures in the education realm in an attempt to repair the damage accrued by this statement.

In any event, this constant shifting of the political winds has created angst in the hearts and minds of so many, particularly minorities of all kinds, especially the prisoner’s of Virginia and their families. Consider the fact that at least 500 men and women housed in Virginia D.O.C. were excited for the opportunity to be released from prison only to have this moment snatched away at the 11th hour. I can recall the anxiety I felt after serving 20 years in maximum security with the expectation that I’d be shipped to a medium, only to have it snatched away. I can only imagine what it feels like to expect your freedom then have it taken from you to serve political interests.

Consider the children expecting their parent to come home only to suffer the gravest of disappointment. It is difficult enough to explain to young children that you’re away from them because you did something that you shouldn’t have, then plan your reunion, then build their expectations only to find yourself letting them down again. Psychologically, the idea of defeat is ever present and the circumstances we live under will either nourish the defeat or starve it – unfortunately incarceration provides a full course meal for the defeatist mind.

It is astonishing that so many of us and our families are able to thrive in spite of the pervasive nature of ” learned helplessness.” The incarceration of family becomes a shared experience in which both suffer separately, but equally. Although visitation and phone calls serve as a type of “numbing agent” for the soul, both are left with a hollow place in their consciousness for which their is no immediate gratification, the only remedy requires freedom from the carceral restraints that bind us yet separate.

Our knowledge of the carceral system will ensure that we can experience a healthy existence in spite of the enormous obstacles we face. The wellness of our selves and family is predicated on just how resilient and resolute we prove to be. There is no magic pill or how to book to mimic, the wellness we seek is born from our recognition of “the open enemy,” the politician that has industrialized crime for the sake of creating jobs in their respective districts; the one who refuses to recognize that poverty is the mother of crime and not genetics as many of them would presume.

The sure strategy against this pathology is our education and advocacy against the system that seeks to break our will and define us as a valueless people. In the words of the immortal Nelson Mandela, “the attack of the wild beast cannot be averted with bare hands.”

In Struggle,

Danny Thomas, #1054249
Green Rock Correctional

July Prompt: State Leaders, Mental Health, and Incarcerated Lives

It’s been an entire year since the VA governor’s 11th hour budget amendment that denied thousands of hopeful incarcerated people and their families long-awaited relief from Virginia’s harsh practice of over sentencing. The sudden walk back combined with the already adverse conditions (i.e. the Coronavirus Pandemic, Fentanyl, etc) plaguing the penitentiary have caused serious stress for some – myself included. This elevates the every day stressors of prison life from a common occurrence that can be remedied with moderate time and care, to a contest of will that can have lethal consequences for the defeated.

The prison yard has been relatively quiet, subdued by the jerk and pull of politics and the overwhelming sense of powerlessness. Dejected prisoners have not mustered the spirit to organize in light of all the work that has been done on their behalf in the past few years. From personal experience that spans a decade and a half, prisoners do not expect things to change and the past year has reinforced feelings of injustice. These feelings have been suppressed for the most part and redistributed to expressions that firmly place prisoners deeper into prison life and further from productive, prospective ways of thinking.

For me, the past year has been a crash course in environmental influence on mental health and how this is so essential to effective rehabilitation. It has also raised an important question in my mind: How much weight do our state leaders place on the mental wellness of its incarcerated? How much weight to they place on mental wellness and public safety?

State Democrats decided not to readdress Enhance Sentence Credits in this year’s General Assembly — predicting failure to pass and further unnecessary stress on prisoners and their families. Currently, the matter of Earned Sentence Credits and the Governor’s walk back of eligibility is being heard by the VA Supreme Court. This process can take quite some time to be decided. Other alternatives to relief include: expiration of the budget amendment in June 2024 (and hopefully its not reissued by the Governor and House), or The House gains enough Second Chance members in the upcoming election to push a bill through. This form of alternative also cannot be effective till 2024.

In the meantime, what do we do about the immense mental stress that is pushing prisoners to very bleak brinks — increased agitation, physical altercations, deep depression, and drug overdoses? Each of these issues have been exacerbated by Governor Youngkin’s political agenda and toying with human lives…

-Q, July 2023

Prompt Questions (Thought Starters for the Incarcerated Population):

Can you identify any extra stress brought on by the governor’s budget amendment; for you, your environment, loved ones at home, or friends/family on the inside?
How can the state better use resources in order to address the mental health of incarcerated people?
What may be some key ways to deal with elevated stress while incarcerated?
Can you think of any alternative ways the prison community can view the legislative process to better cope with changes like that of governor Youngkin’s budget amendment?
What can we do as incarcerated people to ensure that we put the right people in office who care about our lives?

Political Skepticism!

Political skepticism is something that I have experienced and witnessed as a political prisoner. It comes from constantly being let down by your political constituents and those who have the political power to effect change. The skepticism has become a mental restraint that has kept the minorities from progressing. Why because of the lack of faith in the political powers that be. I am of the firm belief that power is an illusion. As creators we have the power or will to create our conditions. As creators and self governors, we have the ability to relinquish power by simply governing ourselves. True freedom only comes to those who have freed their minds from the mental restraints that have kept them bounded down to earthly thoughts. The right to vote is a tool for freedom that gives us a voice and the right to effect change. The change needed to help further develop our people and our communities. In order to be governed you have to consent to be governed. The political skepticism has held the minorities back as a whole because of the fact that a vast majority of minorities feel as though the system is rigged. Voting is of dire importance for the progression of minorities for the families of the incarcerated and for the tax paying citizens. Your vote matters regardless of past perceptions and beliefs. We have fell into their traps by not going out to vote, and as long as this trend continues ask yourself will we ever be free?

My name is Antoinne Pitt author of Thinking With A Purpose and C.O.A.T (Countering Overdoses and Addiction Treatment) and vice president of Vanderbilt Media House publishing company. My state # is 1157338 and I am currently being housed at Lawrenceville Correctional Center.

The Vital Right in a Democracy

“There is no more vital right in a democracy than the right to vote. Without it, no other right is secure.”

These are the words of Lawrence Goldstone, author of “Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights” (Scholastic Focus: New York, 2020). This invaluable book should be required reading for all who are currently in the struggle for voting rights because people not only need to know what they are fighting for, but, they equally need to know about whom they are fighting against. Many people in the struggle for voting rights get so caught up in the here and now that they lose sight of the events that lead to the here and now. In other words, in order to fully understand disenfranchisement today, one must fully understand the historical mindset of those who made it their generational mission to disenfranchise African Americans, and to understand how each generation has it’s own methods by which it use’s to achieve that mission.

The methods used are well documented, but, many today are unaware of the magnitude of those methods, and how those methods brought the American voting system to the brink of collapse.

In 1890, J. J. Chrisman, a Mississippian judge, took pride in declaring: “In plan words, we have been stuffing the ballot boxes, committing perjury, and here and there . . . carrying the elections by fraud and violence until the whole machinery for elections was about to rot down.”

Malcolm X once said: “As time changes, your methods for achieving your objectives must change.”

Mr. Goldstone informs us that by 1900, all of the old Confederate States were in agreement that the time had come to change their methods in by which to deny African Americans the full and equal right of citizenship. He quotes an Alabama lawmaker as saying: “We cannot afford to live with our feet upon fraud. We will not do it. We have disfranchised the African in the past by doubtful methods, but in the future we will do so by law.”

The political events taking place throughout America today are the methods employed more than a hundred years ago by those seeking to continue the course of disenfranchisement.

I have been incarcerated for the past 33 years, and like so many incarcerated men and women, there was a time when I believed that politics (particularly voting) was a waste of time. Thankfully I have matured in my historical and political understanding when it comes to voting. When we do not vote, or at least participate in the process in some way, we become accomplice’s in our own disenfranchisement.

I am currently employed by the Virginia Correctional Enterprise (VCE) where we print letterheads, pamphlets, brochures, businesses cards, and other stationary for State institutions, colleges and universities and nonprofits throughout the State. VCE also supplies the State with it’s Voter Registration Applications. Due to my status as a convicted felon, I can’t vote. However, I find comfort and satisfaction in doing something that helps others in registering to vote. It gives me a sense of inclusiveness and a sense of pride because I feel like I’m a part of the process. Also, I feel like I’m keeping Dr. King’s dream alive when he said:

“Everybody can be great . . . because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

In closing, I want to leave you with this food for thought:

All of your rights and all of your privileges, as an American citizen, are contained in your right to vote. To forgo or relinquish that right puts all of your rights and privileges in jeopardy. We in the present owe a debt to all who fought for the cause of suffrage in the past. Let us not be unmindful of that obligation. Let us not let their suffering be in vain.

Peace and Blessings to all.

Anthony Maurice Jordan #1161827
Beaumont Correctional Center