Originally published in the Spring 2022 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 68, printed April 21. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Spring 2022 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

Staff Report

In the last issue of the Defender, we reported on the rally the Virginia Prison Justice Network held Jan. 22 in Richmond’s Monroe Park. The rally raised four demands. This is how those issues were dealt with in the 2022 General Assembly:

Bring back parole

The bill promoting this failed. It never even got out of committee. It was supposed to go into a study, but that didn’t happen either.

End solitary confinement

The committee examining this issue voted to send it into a study. And who’s in charge of that study? The Virginia Department of Corrections. A lot of organizations have been working on this issue, including the Coalition to End Solitary Confinement, Interfaith Action for Human Rights, Sentencing Project, Bridging the Gap in Virginia, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, R.I.H.D., SALT, the Virginia Defenders and the ACLU, among others.

Outside oversight over prisons & jails

Killed. The bill addressing this issue never made it out of committee.

Pass “Second Look” resentencing

Failed. The bill passed in the Senate but was shot down in a House committee.

Also: Discretionary Sentencing Guidelines (SB-137). “Requires that the written explanation the court files with the record of a case when departing from the sentencing guidelines adequately explains the sentence imposed to promote fair sentencing.” This bill was promoted by R.I.H.D. (Resource, Information, Help for the Disadvantaged and Disenfranchised). Like the Second Look bill, it passed the Senate, but died in a House committee.

The Virginia Prison Justice Network has a division of labor. The Coalition for Justice in Blacksburg does the largest share of counseling and produces the network’s monthly newsletter, which is sent to more than 1,300 prisoners in all 40 Virginia facilities. The Virginia Defenders also do some counseling, report on issues in The Virginia Defender newspaper, head up organizing the annual Prison Justice Rally and promote local Prison Justice Speak-Outs. R.I.H.D. organizes the annual Mobile Justice Tours and takes the lead on the network’s legislative advocacy work. All three organizations are all-volunteer. There is no paid staff.

The Defender asked R.I.H.D. Executive Director Lillie “Ms. K” Branch-Kennedy how she evaluates the results of the 2022 General Assembly.

“There was a lot of progress when Northam was governor, but everything he did came out of advocacy,” Ms. K. said. “I don’t think he came into office saying he was going to do this or that. Under his administration, we saw progress on juvenile and adult parole, Fishback reforms, streamlining the restoration of rights and the pardon process – all stemming from related advocacy work since 2020.

“Then 2022 was a horrible year for continuing to pass fair and humane laws like oversight bills and to end solitary confinement. We went from a Democrat-controlled assembly to a Republican-controlled one. Truth is, at the end of the day, we’re only going to get but so much from either side. The problem is far too much partisanship and too little common sense used when voting on important, life-altering legislation.”

So why keep fighting?

“R.I.H.D. fights because it’s the right thing to do,” Ms. K said. “We fight for fairness and equality in public safety laws. I’m fighting to increase public awareness and support, to end racial and economic bias in Virginia’s criminal justice system.

“If you don’t continuously fight for something, people will forget, feel hopeless and then when the administration changes, you have to start all over.”