I stood in the pod and listened to WRIC Richmond 8News as they reported that VADOC plans to close four of its state facilities and assume control of its now only private-ran prison, Lawrenceville Correction Center, back from GEO Group. These plans are to take effect in 2024. Allegedly, this proposed course of action is in response to the staff shortages, the sharp spike in drug overdoses, and drug overdose related deaths.

What continues to elude me is that given all the reports and coverage, there is not one utterance of the apparent correlation between the increasingly lethal conditions befalling the incarcerated and Governor Youngkin’s budget that keeps the prison population unnecessarily high and extremely vulnerable to the effects of the deadly fentanyl epidemic.

It is evident that the ENTIRE world was ensnared in the chaos brought on by the Cornanvirus Pandemic. This should not exclude the fact that the immense adverse effects on the mental, physical, and emotional scapes of people did not fail to reach us here in prison. Reasonably, the struggles stood to endure by the public were undoubtedly intensified by the conditions of incarcerated living…

As sickness ravaged the public, the prison population suffered the amplified effects of disease associated with cramped living conditions. As the economy experienced joblessness, the prison experienced a lack of security staff and thus a harmful lapse in overall security, jeopardizing the health and safety of the entire incarcerated population.

The country, as a whole, is still enduring a mental health crisis. The only difference between the public and prison is the availability of professional psychiatric help for the incarcerated. Alongside the fact that prison, in itself, is a major mental stressor. Without proper counseling and a fertile, constructive environment, such mental stress is bound to convert into substance abuse. And in turn, a substance abuse habit has become a much more lethal coping mechanism in the midst of the fentanyl epidemic.

I guess the task of protecting the people, entrusted to our state leaders, doesn’t extend to the many human beings excessively incarcerated by a broken system. Or maybe state leadership, headed up by Governor Youngkin, could not properly assess these critical factors behind the very real blinders of polarized, partisan politics. In any case, the budget amendment could be seen as mere political maneuvering, but given its very lethal effects, the call to stay thousands of me and women to excessive prison sentences has proven deadly.

I have been incarcerated well before the abolishment of the death penalty in Virginia. That has not sheltered me from the continuous heart break time and time again having to witness the needless death of men whom where never expected to die in prison… Those whom just the simple support of home, family, or professional counseling could be here today.

Though many of us in prison are here because of the choices we’ve made, none of us remain here under the strength of our own volition. Excessive sentencing, political gaming, and human profiteering has held us captive in what is becoming an even greater deathtrap than ever before…

There is always a price for power. The price for political power in this instance, has been at the very affordable cost of human lives…

Love, Peace, and Power
Q.

Prompt:

Have you noticed the uptick in overdoses in your respective facility? How has this affected you and those closest to you?

Due to the budget amendment, a large number of people have been blocked from going home. Do you think that contributes to the uptick?

How can we as incarcerated people help with the drug crisis within the prisons?

What do you think the prime agents are that contribute to substance abuse in prison? And how can state leaders address this problem?