12 Men Set Themselves on Fire at Red Onion

Summary: Prisoners at the Red Onion State Prison in Virginia are setting themselves on fire in an attempt to escape the “unbearable isolation, racism, and brutality.”

The Scoop on the Red Onion

Red Onion State Prison, a supermax facility in Wise County, Virginia, has been scrutinized for unethical practices for decades. In 1999, the organization Human Rights Watch published a multi-section piece on the human rights violations at Red Onion and Amnesty international released a report on Red Onion in 2001.

Corrections officers are held to certain standards to treat inmates humanely and uphold the law, including international human rights treaties signed by the United States. The United Nations has designated that solitary confinement for over 15 days constitutes torture, but institutions in the United States still do it. Investigations have shown that officers at Red Onion have routinely used excessive physical force and threatened inmates’ lives, in addition to holding prisoners in solitary confinement for weeks or months, and reportedly up to 14 years.

One inmate, who remained anonymous in the HRW report, said, “When I was taken out of the transport van, I had two stun guns placed against my body and was told that if I didn’t do what I was told, I would be shot from one of the gun posts located throughout Red Onion. I was told by [a lieutenant], ‘We will kill you here, so don’t mess up.’”

An inmate explained that the officers told inmates: “You will do as you are told, when you are told, how you are told, forever as long as you are told or you will be shocked, shot, beaten or otherwise maimed, injured or killed, do you understand, Boy?”

At the time of the 1999 HRW report, the corrections officers at Red Onion routinely carried firearms inside the facilities and allegedly, they have not stopped. Most states prohibit corrections officers from carrying firearms except for in the perimeter towers, but Virginia is one of three which allow it. When officers carry firearms inside prison facilities it increases the risk of injury, it does not decrease, and Red Onion has had up to 5x as many incidents of a firearm being used than other facilities.

Inmates report that the officers fire their weapons without justification and use it as an intimidation tactic. They have been accused of misusing their electronic stun devices, their weapons, firearms, and their power.

Photo by Hasan Almasi via Unsplash

Self-Immolation

Prison Radio, an independent production studio which gives a voice to the incarcerated, reported that on September 15, two inmates at Red Onion made the choice to set themselves on fire. Cellmates Econ and Trayvon Brown felt like they did not have a choice, they wanted to escape the inhumanity of Red Onion. They both suffered third-degree burns and severe injuries and were taken to University of Virginia for treatment.

Up to a dozen black men incarcerated at Red Onion made the same choice to self-immolate recently. According to the prisoners, the corrections officers at Red Onion have repeatedly dehumanized the prisoners, verbally accosted them with racial slurs and derogatory remarks, threatened their lives, and physically assaulted them with excessive force while doing their duties.

Self-immolation is a desperate act taken only in the most dire of circumstances, and one of the most extreme forms of protest. Their hopelessness and pain drove them to light themselves ablaze, wanting to escape the abuses.

Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, a black activist convicted of murder in 1990 at the age of just 19-years-old, has spent the majority of his life behind bars and fighting for rights for incarcerated people. He has maintained his innocence of the crime he was convicted of. Johnson is inside Red Onion and was able to tell Prison Radio and Solitary Watch, a nonprofit organization, about what he has witnessed.

The officers have withheld medication, spit in the food, unfairly restricted access to the outside, violated inmates’ religious texts, used racial slurs like “monkey” and the N-word, called prisoners by inappropriate names, assaulted inmates without cause, kept prisoners in solitary confinement for longer than 15 days, and more unspeakable acts.

“Control Unit Torture”, art by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, Minister of Defense, Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party, inmate at Red Onion, via Wikimedia Commons

Where is the media attention?

Up to a dozen men self-immolated at a state prison, and mainstream media has not been reporting on it—some are calling it a cover-up. The Virginia Department of Corrections site has not yet reported on recent events in their press releases. Information is spreading via social media, and the names of only a few of the men who have taken this drastic step have been confirmed, the names of the other men have not been released. Demetrius Wallace set his leg on fire on August 23, 2024, and on September 15, Ekong Eshiet set his leg ablaze, as well.

This is not new for Red Onion, there were previous cases of self-immolation, one such instance was on May 25, 2022. DeAndre Gordon said he “didn’t know any other way that I could get out of their custody,” he wanted to escape the brutal treatment and unnecessary beatings they had given him, so he set himself on fire. After he was transferred and received surgery to heal the burns, he kept opening his wounds so that he would have to keep returning to the doctor, that way he could stay at the Sussex II Correctional Center.

The Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Mary Bauer, said “We receive several thousands of letters every year. Many of them describe brutal, abusive practices, dangerous conditions, lack of healthcare,” and claimed that the system is broken.

Prisoners at Red Onion know that if they set themselves on fire that they will be transferred because Virginia only has three facilities that can handle severe burns, and two are in Richmond, almost 400 miles away from Red Onion. The prisoners have also gone on hunger strikes to demand better conditions or transfers to no avail.

Prisoners deserve human rights, and facilities and individual corrections officers who abuse their positions should be held accountable. A full investigation into the accusations is necessary

This is a developing story.