Administering a prison brings a list of concerns that, for safety reasons, should be addressed. Prisons, by design, are environments that create & encourage the very problems – criminal & otherwise – that they claim to stop or prevent. Too often it is prison staff themselves, whether deliberately or not, who are responsible for the problems beyond the environment itself. During Covid, when captives had zero access to visits from people they knew, or even from lawyers, it was revealed that 90% of all contraband was provided by prison staff & prison staff alone. That has not changed, yet DOCs across the country openly ignored the facts & the evidence – which is the most common response – & engaged in a further clamp down on the captives themselves. I would put forth the opinion, well founded, that this response is not only a gross betrayal of the public trust – a growing constant regarding all institutions & the system in general – but that such a betrayal is traitorous & paramount to treason.
Harsh criticisms, like the facts & evidence that supports them, are also being ignored. So let us examine a simple compare/contrast at the Virginia Department of Corrections Facility, Pocahontas State Corruption Center (PSCC). PSCC is one of the most notorious state prisons in the entire 41 prison VA DOC. It served as both a throw away camp to hide & disappear those who embarrassed Virginia, as well as a local recruitment center for Virginia’s extensive white supremacist network which is deeply entrenched in its political & law enforcement castes statewide (we all know just how well wrapped together these castes are with their “criminal” counterparts).
Recently, as a result of repeated exposure & thousands upon thousands of mounting complaints, with equally mounting evidence in the public eye), PSCC has undergone some minor changes. Most of the staff from the “old guard” are, simply put, ill-trained & poorly prepared for many of these changes, which explains how this example is even available for presentation.
In the last 6 months easily a dozen knives have been discovered. Homemade & in the hands of captives, this is a development that is entirely new to PSCC & unheard of in the 5 years I’ve been illegally held in this camp. PSCC guards used to plant plastic picnic butter knives & call them weapons as a way to set up prisoners they didn’t like, but real weapons were rarely – or never – found. This should be a concern, especially for the sort of people currently filling most of the cannon fodder guard positions.
Recently, several guards, including a Mr. Hastings, were caught red handed distributing drugs to the PSCC prisoners, mostly through the resident white supremacists. They no longer work here, but if Virginia follows its usual pattern, charges will be non-existent and in a year or two these guards will be working in a different VA DOC facility . There will certainly be no state investigation worthy of note, & Virginia is somehow a master at keeping the Federal authorities from any involvement (even when their guards are guilty of verified hate crimes & it is documented). These are just some of the very real problems – & there are DOZENS – that plague the VA DOC & PSCC.
But do you know what the PSCC admins & guards are REALLY worried about? Hooks made out of soap, pressed to walls where prisoners hang clothes & laundry. They are also very worried about the hanging of a sheet/towel/shirt from a bunk just low enough to block the viciously bright overhead light that is a legitimate threat to prisoner psychological & physical wellbeing… These are of PARAMOUNT concern at PSCC.
The VA DOC has actually approved hooks that adhere to walls & are sold on the commissary at the inflated price of a 3 pack for $5.00. PSCC, a medium/low (3/2) security facility does not allow them and has no justification for denying them where higher level facilities allow them. Does this make any sense? No, but nor does worrying about the completely harmless hooks made of soap when you have some staff “smuggling” contraband into the camp, & worse yet, you’ve hired staff whose behavior, attitude, & most importantly big mouths, stand them a good chance of being stabbed by a prisoner who has absolutely nothing to lose.
Calling these guards & admins stupid is easy, but it isn’t necessarily correct or useful. The real problem is one that can be found across the entire system, from the lowest peon guard at a prison to police & prosecutors, especially notable in judges and politicians:arrogance & an over-inflated, poorly founded sense of authority. Our system – now accepted far & wide by most to be a staggeringly epic failure – has allowed for these groups to become so far removed from the rest of society that an air of superiority & invulnerability has become commonplace. Therefore, when one of the members of this aristocracy & new nobility finds themselves being targeted – quite rightly in the majority of instances – they are surprised & aghast with incredulity. Of course, this response, while parroted by the media & their fellow group members, only serves to reinforce the opinions of the masses, who are not going to tolerate such aristocracy and authoritarianism.
As it is easy to see, petty policies are EVERYWHERE in the U.S. system, but nowhere are they more widespread than in prisons. Prisons continue to be a root cause of all the U.S. problems, staffed by people who mostly would find themselves locked up if they weren’t the foot soldiers for the nobility & therefore insulated & protected. Crimes & human rights violations are always acceptable, so long as state employees are acting on behalf of the state, or at least their rural county within the state.
So keep on worrying about soap hooks & a shirt hanging from the bed while you “smuggle” in all of your contraband. The state will protect you. It won’t stop that prisoner you pushed too far who stabs you, & it won’t correct any of the problems that it or its sponsored terror groups cause, but those clothes will not be hanging on the walls.
Open rebellion has started over far less in human history, & in the U.S., armed and open rebellion began well more than a decade ago. Soap hooks, & other very minor petty issues of like will not be a concern when mobs are roaming looking for everyone who even remotely had involvement with the system, & they won’t be hanging soap hooks, you can be certain of that.
David Annarelli 1853637
Pocahontas State Correctional Center
PO Box 518
Pocahontas, VA 24635
Mongoose Distro 