A few dozen people gathered at the state capitol in Richmond on Saturday to protest alleged abuses at Wallens Ridge and Red Onion state prisons.
Activists and family members of people incarcerated at Red Onion say multiple men are participating in a hunger strike because of their treatment.
April Wright came to the capitol from near Winchester. She says her son, Austin Arocho, has been mistreated while in state custody. He has two years left on his sentence, but Wright wants the facilities shut down for the sake of future generations.
" It's not just our kids. If we don't make a difference now, it's gonna be our grandkids, their kids," Wright predicted. "It's targeting everybody who's either poor or middle class. But if we're able to get this done, whether it be four or five years from now. These men are not right coming out of there."
According to December text exchanges among Red Onion staff obtained through a Freedom of Information request, the state corrections Ombudsman, Andrea Sapone, sought 13 pieces of information from the department. Her office declined to comment on specifics of the request.
An internal investigation found no misconduct four days after those text messages were sent.
Delegate Mike Jones represents Richmond and Chesterfield County. He visited Red Onion late last year.
"The whole prison industrial complex is flawed," Jones said. "You can't change pieces of it. It just needs a major overhaul. But again, it can't be about making money. Unfortunately, we know that it was set up that way, right? Because that was the way they could enslave individuals again. Because this thing is not about rehabilitating people."
A spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Corrections declined to comment about the allegations and hasn’t responded to multiple phone calls or emails since May 14.
Read more about the protest and allegations at Red Onion Resources.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.