Until Nov. 17, it had been 50 years since a Virginia prison guard had been killed by an inmate. According to VADOC, that changed when a corrections officer was severely injured by an inmate at the River North Correctional Center in Southwest Virginia. The guard later died of his injuries.

An interview with Margaret Breslau, a co-founder of the Virginia Prison Justice Network and chair of the Coalition for Justice. The Coalition produces a monthly newsletter for the VAPJN that is sent to thousands of prisoners, reaching virtually every Virginia facility.

While supporting all prisoners, the Defenders try to pay special attention to politically conscious prisoners. Here are four comrades who, at great personal risk, speak out strongly about social justice issues and so help others open their eyes to the true nature of the society we live in, whether inside or outside the walls.

Last December, prisoner-activist Kevin “Rashid” Johnson put out a call “to create a prisoner support network composed of people who genuinely care about prisoners and the conditions we live under and abuses we suffer, namely our loved ones.”

Last October, long-time prisoner-activist Kevin “Rashid” Johnson broke the story that men held at the notorious Red Onion Supermax prison in southwestern Virginia were setting themselves on fire in a desperate attempt to get transferred out of that hellhole.