WISE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — 8News will question the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) about allegations of multiple self-inflicted burnings from inmates at Red Onion State Prison in an interview scheduled for Wednesday.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin addressed the issue during a press conference on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
“The circumstances that have been occurring — there’s been six cases this year in 2024 at Red Onion — have been self-inflicted burnings from inmates,” Youngkin explained. “They 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.”
Also on Tuesday, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus released a statement condemning alleged “inhumane conditions” at Red Onion. While Youngkin said there had been six cases of self-inflicted burnings, the VLBC claimed there had been “at least 12” since Sept. 15.
“These acts of self-immolation are desperate cries for help from at least twelve Black men, since September 15, who allege systemic abuse, neglect, and blatant human rights violations,” the VLBC statement reads. “People who have been incarcerated at Red Onion State Prison describe being regularly subjected to racial and physical abuse from correctional officers, medical neglect including the withholding of medicine, excessive stays in solitary confinement with one report of 600 consecutive days, inedible food having been covered in maggots and officers’ spit, and violent dog attacks.”
Youngkin did not mention any of these allegations during his conference, saying only that Virginia officials were working to understand the situation better.
“At the end of it, of course, is we don’t want to see inmates in our correctional system harmed,” Youngkin said. “In some certain circumstances, self-harm is a difficult thing to combat sometimes when it’s perpetrated in a way that is part of the basic infrastructure of the facility.”
In its statement, the VLBC urged Youngkin and VADOC Director, Chadwick Dotson, to launch an independent investigation into allegations of abuse and mistreatment at Red Onion and any other prison with similar complaints.
The VLBC also called on Attorney General Jason Miyares, the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman and Virginia Corrections Oversight Committee to take action.
On Tuesday evening, VADOC offered interview opportunities for news media to discuss “recent misinformation reports at Red Onion State Prison.”
This is a developing story, stay with 8News for updates.