Juneteenth and HB 5148
As the United States celebrates Juneteenth, and a day after Father's day, a gross and cruel abuse of humanity is unfolding in real time before my eyes.
House Bill 5148 passed in 2020 during a special session of the Virginia General Assembly. This bill made the attempt to, at least in part, bring the Virginia Department of Corruption (VDOC) into line with the majority of other state's DOCs and the Federal Bureau of Prisons which provide Good Time Earned Credit reducing sentences to about 65%. Prior to this change Virginia demanded 85% at minimum, and, at many VDOC prisons such as Pocahontas State Corruption Center (PSCC) there has been a deliberate and concerted effort to defraud prisoners of that minimum by way of frivolous and petty in house charges, ensuring they serve 100% of their often already excessive sentences. This change in law goes into effect July 1 2022, in 10 days. Those who are eligible were notified weeks ago.
From the beginning the law was quite open in its blatant discrimination. Some people - mostly those with violent crimes and statistically the least likely to recidivate - would be denied an increase in earned sentence credit based solely on the crimes for which they were already adjudicated and punished. No amount of good behavior would make a difference. Nonetheless there were those who would be eligible - meth cooks for example - and this created a level of hope for all captives. Perhaps, after 400+ years of profiteering from the enslavement of other humans, Virginia was finally turning a corner ..... Enter Governor Youngkin and the new Attorney General.
From the outset of their campaigns, which every fact checker repeatedly pointed out were based on lies and misinformation, these two openly anti American autocrats made abundantly clear that things such as justice, or the constitutional rights of citizens, were no longer up for even vague consideration. They would, in fact, take Virginia from among the worst states for criminal justice, with an equally abhorrent DOC, straight to the number one position in both categories. On Friday, June 17 2022, the autocrats took a major leap in that direction.
Essentially, the Virginia General Assembly, at the behest of the Governor, decided to further disenfranchise 500+ people by rescinding the new law from those who had mixed charges. That is to say, those with both eligible and ineligible charges. Those people, who are anywhere from 10 days to a few months from going home and who, along with their families, had already been informed they would be reunited after years and decades, are now about to be informed that no, they would not be going home after all. This is, to my mind, the sort of thing that makes one wonder: "when are the Yankees, or anyone, going to come deal with this dangerous threat of a state?" The answer is clearly, "not soon enough".
It should be noted that in the same bill, a budget bill, the Governor asked for "certain demonstrators" to be labeled as felons. You read that correctly. The very dangerous Governor Youngkin wanted Virginia to be the first state where your First Amendment right to gather and redress grievances was made, not only illegal, but a FELONY. Thankfully, this did not get passed in to "law". Again, given the history of Virginia, it should come as no surprise that the attempt was made. This is an occupied territory, a breeding ground and haven for dangerous right wing fanatics. The VDOC is now and has always been a cabal of slavers hiding in plain sight.
Today is a federal holiday, and while we think the governor signed the bill, we aren't 100% positive as of it yet. What we can be positive of is that the VDOC would not have put out a memorandum with the update and the names of those effected. That didn't stop the PSCC Assistant Warden - on his day off, and a PSCC Sgt., both with equally notorious records, documented, of abusive actions and behaviors towards prisoners, from informing dozens of prisoners - possibly prematurely and without any actual evidence so far as we know - that they were no longer eligible for early release. The general consensus among PSCC captives seems to be a mixture of terrible disappointment at the prospect of being not included, and an understanding that this is exactly the sort of twisted and cruel joke these dangerous PSCC maniacs would pull. They also did it on camera clearly not worried about facing reprimands.
The threat to our Republic is real.
happy Juneteenth America