Virginia Corrections Ombudsman Andrea Sapone (left) listens to Bending the Bars founder Nicole Deyo (right) during a meeting in Richmond on July 15, 2025. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
As the state grapples with public concerns about conditions inside prisons and the complaint reporting process, prisoners’ grievances are on track to being heard and, when possible, investigated, Virginia Corrections Ombudsman Andrea Sapone shared in a meeting Tuesday.
The volume of recent complaints are a big challenge. Some aren’t under her office’s purview (like those stemming from local or regional jails) while others are duplicate or near-duplicate mass emails the office has to ensure aren’t all separate issues.
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Of the over 500 complaints her team is exploring, 269 of those stem from Red Onion State Prison, Sapone said.
After a handful of residents burned themselves last year, the Southwest Virginia prison has been under heightened scrutiny from inmate families, advocacy groups and state lawmakers. Last winter, Sapone announced that her office will investigate the facility, though it remains unable to comment further until the process is complete, she said Tuesday.
Her office is also working on a memorandum of understanding with the Virginia Department of Corrections to facilitate how to share records and other information relating to investigations. Sapone said her team has finalized its draft and is awaiting a response from VADOC.
The Mercury made a Freedom of Information Act request for the ombudsman’s draft of the MOU, but the overarching Office of the State Inspector General rejected it. The office cited state code meant to protect records relating to investigations as the reason it was exempt from filling the request. Though Sapone plans to investigate VADOC’s Red Onion, her office confirmed the MOU is not specific to an investigation.
As VADOC is deliberating, spokesman Kyle Gibson said the department “does not want to speculate on a completed time frame.”
‘Brutality is real’
Sapone’s office has been staffing up to conduct general inspections of state prison facilities and handle the variety of complaints it receives from inmates, their family members or advocacy organizations that communicate with prisoners.
During a meeting in Richmond on Tuesday, organizations relayed what they’ve been hearing — with some anecdotes also shared by Sapone herself.
Speakers alleged a lack of access to health care or mental health services for inmates, restricted visitation or communication with family or lawyers, along with allegations of discrimination or mistreatment from corrections staff and prolonged lockdowns or use of isolation.
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Several such claims have percolated over the last year stemming from Red Onion, prompting two state lawmakers to make unannounced visits there. They said they saw a a lack of meaningful out-of-cell time for people, despite state law requiring inmates in isolated housing to have congregate time.
The Department of Corrections last year denied allegations of mistreatment in communications to the Mercury and other media.
“The Department has zero tolerance for any form of abuse and investigates all such allegations,” Dotson said in a statement.
Recent documents obtained by VPM News show a highly-redacted internal probe refuting allegations of staff misconduct.
Allegations of mistreatment by officers at nearby Wallens Ridge prison have also erupted. In May, three officers were harmed by some gang-affiliated inmates, resulting in a subsequent lockdown. Gibson confirmed to The Mercury at the time that visitations, calls and video were suspended as a result.
An external review of Virginia’s prisons last year noted understaffing at several facilities and the role it may play in population management lockdowns. Understaffed facilities means inmates are more likely to be cut off from educational and rehabilitative programming.
It also poses security risks to staff and residents alike, the report outlined.
“This lack of staff impacts every aspect of facility operations and results in facilities that are unsafe,” the report stated.
“Brutality is real in prison,” said Nicole Deyo, founder of prison reform nonprofit Bending the Bars. “(Prisoners) were committed to a sentence (and) the DOC agreed to house these individuals in a humane way. The purpose is for development and rehabilitation. At the end of the day, these people are coming home so we have to prepare them.”
Deyo said there should be more transparency of the grievance process for inmates and their families. Representatives of Uniting Prisoners’ Relatives Organizing Against Repression, or UPROAR, have also said inmates who voice their concerns face retaliation.
While these allegations have yet to be proven or disproven, some inmates have reached out to The Mercury intermittently for nearly a year to relay grievances or note when they’ve lost access to JPay — a message service for inmates.
Ekong Eshiet, who was among those to burn themselves in protest last year, and who has since been transferred, has made similar claims. Some state lawmakers and activists speculated that the burnings were cries for help and a form of protest. The Department of Corrections director Chad Dotson refuted that.
Last November Dotson attributed the incidents to mental health issues and took aim at advocacy groups and certain lawmakers.
“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,” he said.
In December, Dotson suggested some inmates just wanted to be transferred elsewhere to be closer to family. Red Onion is based on the far west side of Virginia, with residents from around the state and elsewhere housed there.
Eshiet acknowledged such a desire in an email to The Mercury, but said the burning was an escalation of a previous hunger strike to protest his living conditions and seek a transfer in general. Eshiet has alleged he has been discriminated against for his Muslim faith and has felt unsafe around some correctional officers.
In March, ahead of his transfer, Eshiet wrote to The Mercury that he was hopeful prisoners’ concerns were catching the outside world’s attention and his inspirations for when he completes his sentence and re-enters society.
“Most of my life has been wicked but I am better than every evil deed that I ever committed,” Eshiet said. “The plan is to make a change for the better & hopefully I can help others change for the better. It’s not necessarily about how (you) start life but more importantly about how (you) finish it. I must leave a good trace in this realm.”
Hundreds of complaints, hundreds of miles
While complaints stemming from state-run prisons are not new, Sapone’s position to look into them is. First established last summer from a new state law, Sapone was hired in late September. Her office spent this winter and spring hiring additional staff and are now seeking more that can help sort through and triage complaints.
It’s a tall order for a small team, said Maggie Sotos, the OSIG communications manager. She noted that states like New Jersey have a larger staff to do what Sapone’s office does in Virginia. Virginia’s largest congressional district is roughly the size of the state of New Jersey.
Outside of its pending Red Onion investigation, Sapone’s office conducts drop-in inspections of Virginia’s prisons throughout the year, driving hundreds of miles to do so.
“We’re hoping (the hires) can help delegate the labor a little bit more,” Sotos said. “We can have dedicated folks who can do the intake of these complaints and we can have our other staff members out in the field. That way we can have more parallel progress instead of it being bogged down at the same time.”
For now, Sapone said she plans to host another meeting this fall or winter where she and staff can share further updates.
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Author: Charlotte Rene Woods
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