Take Action: Sussex I
Sussex 1 has the windows in the cells and inside the Housing Units covered up. With all of this lockdown it's easy to become confused about the day. Is the Sun out? Is it raining? Is the wind blowing? Is it dark out? The shyt is psychological as hell man. Like, I'm very depressed in here. This shit is a form of torture. What the hell is the purpose? For years prisoners could see out the window at S1 but in 2016 Warden Zook came around and blacked out the Housing Units and all cells in them. When I ask guys who were here then what his reasoning was they say he never gave one. I think it's time S1 administrators explain to citizens why they're engaging in this torture in their names! This prison belongs to YOU the tax paying Virginian. Please help end this tortuous practice of sensory deprivation being implemented on Us! Demand The Agency explain the purpose for this policy!
Stop the Inhumanity! #FreeAskari
CFJ Note: Please call or write
Israel Hamilton, Warden (804) 834-9967
ISRAEL.HAMILTON@VADOC.VIRGINIA.GOV
Please cite the American Bar Association Standards on Treatment of Prisoners. In February 2010, the ABA House of Delegates approved a set of ABA Criminal Justice Standards on Treatment of Prisoners. These Standards supplant the previous ABA Criminal Justice Standards on the Legal Status of Prisoners and, in addition, new Standard 23-6.15 supplants Standards 7-10.2 and 7-10.5 through 7-10.9 of the ABA Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards. The “black letter” Standards and accompanying commentary have been published in “ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Treatment of Prisoners,” Third Edition © 2011, American Bar Association.
Standard 23-3.1 Physical plant and environmental conditions
(a) The physical plant of a correctional facility should:
(i) be adequate to protect and promote the health and safety of prisoners and staff;
(ii) be clean and well-maintained;
(iii) include appropriate housing, laundry, health care, food service, visitation, recreation, education, and program space;
(iv) have appropriate heating and ventilation systems;
(v) not deprive prisoners or staff of natural light, of light sufficient to permit reading throughout prisoners’ housing areas, or of reasonable darkness during the sleeping hours;
(vi) be free from tobacco smoke and excessive noise;
(vii) allow unrestricted access for prisoners to potable drinking water and to adequate, clean, reasonably private, and functioning toilets and washbasins; and
(viii) comply with health, safety, and building codes, subject to regular inspection.