This page is reserved for essays written by prisoners and sent to The Virginia Defender. We encourage other publications and websites to republish the essays, giving credit to the authors and noting that the essays first appeared in The Virginia Defender.
David Annarelli, Lawrenceville Correctional Center – Brunswick County, Virginia
My Friend David – July 25, 2025
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Philip Daniel, Pocohontas State Correctional Center – Bluefield, Virginia
Prisonerism – July 11, 2023
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Kevin Rashid Johnson, Perry Correctional Center- Pelzer, South Carolina
Through Collective Punishment, Virginia Officials Prompt Prisoners to Violently Police Each Other (2025) – October 27, 2025
A Mother’s Response to Prison Chief’s Lies and Ongoing Abuse of Her Son at Red Onion State Prison (2025) – February 6, 2025
Virginia Officials Retaliate Against Prisoner Who Set Himself on Fire and Exposed Abuses at Red Onion (2025) – January 11, 2025
State Legislator Who Visited Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison Described Conditions as Inhumane (2024) – December 20, 2024
Virginia Prison Officials Lie to Public About Abuses and Prisoner Burnings at Red Onion State Prison (2024) – December 20, 2024
Racist Politics in Virginia: Virginia’s Prisons Operate Under An Apartheid System (2024) – June 6, 2024
Racism Dies with Capitalism – June 6, 2024
Virginia Officials Respond to Prison Hunger Strike by Torturing Strikers (2024) – June 1, 2024
Israel a Society of Human Shields – May 21, 2024
How Prison Officials Manufactured Gangs And Gang Wars In Virginia’s Prisons – March 2, 2024
Proposed Changes to the Virginia Department of Corrections and Criminal Injustice in Virginia – February 25, 2023
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Brandon Seward, Greensville Correctional Center – Jarratt, Virginia
Violence – September 29, 2021
Prison – July 3, 2021
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Hassan Shabazz, previously at Dillwyn Correctional Center – Buckingham County, Virginia
Prisoners Lives Matter – May 27 and June 10, 2022
Due Process in the Age of Imperialism – September 13, 2021
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Shaka Shakur, Beaumont Correctional Center – Beaumont, Virginia
The Hidden Face of the ICC – Human Trafficking – August 6, 2025
Human Rights Held Hostage – July 11, 2023
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Other Essays
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