Sean Galloway is 48. He’s spent much of his life in prison for stealing cars but is hoping to be released in 2038.For now, he claims to spend time diffusing tensions at the River North Correctional Center.
“Because I don’t want anybody to die!” he explains.
Tensions he says are provoked by the prison system. He claims, for example, that six prisoners have been shot with rubber bullets for minor offenses – like crossing a red line painted on the floor to indicate certain areas are off limits to inmates.
“There was no aggression. No nothing. Just shot!” he recalls.
Galloway also points to a new policy that imposes punishment on all inmates in a living area if one breaks the rules.
“If Joe Blow does something, I also have to suffer for his stupidity.," he says. "One guy crossed the red line, and they locked the whole pod down for 30 days. We don’t get the phone. We don’t get the kiosk. We don’t get any type of rec.”
On September 8th and 9th prison advocates say multiple men set their mattresses on fire in protest, prompting a 60-day lockdown.
Galloway also complains that prisoners are given very small portions of food – some of it inedible, forcing them to buy from the commissary.
“A hungry man is a dangerous man. You’re hungry and you’re angry – you’re hangry. That’s what’s happening in here and now," he contends.
An inmate can be heard shouting in the background.
"He said, ‘Where is commissary?’ because people are hungry. They have no food," Galloways says.
We don’t know who he was talking about, but Galloway recalled one prisoner who was plotting revenge against a correctional officer who shot him with a rubber pellet.
“This same C.O. that was shooting the gun is walking through the pod, saying, ‘ If I see you crossing the red line, I’m going to lock you up!’ Like he’s really got his chest out. The dude wanted to do something to this man, and I told him, ‘Listen, Bro, by you killing someone, it’s not accomplishing anything. You’re not going to get world news for killing an officer. If you really want to make change, you have to let the world know what’s really going on. What we need is compassion.”
We asked the Department of Corrections to respond to persistent complaints of inmate shootings, group punishment and poor food at River North and other prisons but received no response.
The National Coalition of Public Safety Officers, headed here in Virginia by Charles Craddock, says understaffing is also an issue. The vacancy rate for officers at state prisons is 26%, and at River North 12% of those positions are unfilled.
Wardens respond with extensive lockdowns, preventing prisoners from having visits with loved ones, attending classes, getting recreation or going to jobs.
“When you just go on a full lockdown, people think that that creates a safer environment," Craddock says. "It really doesn’t. It drives mental health issues through the roof, assaults through the roof. It’s like a ticking time bomb.”
We also spoke with Vishal Agriharkar, a senior attorney with the ACLU of Virginia.
“You know we’ve been monitoring Virginia prisons for many years now, and by all accounts conditions are among the worst in recent memory.”
He, too, had heard about people being shot with non-lethal bullets, without warning, for minor offenses and about extensive lockdowns.
“And then on top of that the department has been taking away everyone’s TVs and tablets, which they rely on to communicate with the outside world and to access religious services for example," Agriharkar adds.
The ACLU has reached out to the prison ombudsman’s office requesting an investigation and may consider taking the matter to court, but Agriharkar notes litigation is expensive and can take years. That’s why he says advocacy by the public and non-profits might be a better approach.
