vapacommittee

Insight into reforming Virginia Prisons

Sussex I State Prison is a prison of the Virginia Department of Corrections located in unincorporated Sussex County, Virginia, near Waverly. It is adjacent to Sussex II State Prison, which lies to its northwest, just across Mussellwhite Drive. The prison, a maximum security facility, opened in May 1998. It serves as an intake facility. It includes the state death row for men.

An understanding of the early American legal process is central to dealing with the racial disparities of today. From 1619 to 1860 the American legal process was one which expanded and protected the liberties of white Americans—while at the same time the legal process became increasingly more harsh as to the masses of blacks, with a steady contraction of their liberties. The United States Constitution sanctioned slavery so that under federal law the slave "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." Though the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments significantly expanded the actual rights and options of blacks, nevertheless from 1865 to 1896 the legal process failed to effectuate the full potential of the rights intended and assured under the constitutional amendments.

Step Down Program (SDP) The SDP is an incentive-based, multi-step process that provides offenders placed in a Security Housing Unit (SHU) the opportunity to earn enhanced privileges by refraining from participation in Security Threat Group (STG) affiliations and behaviors.

Red Onion State Prison (ROSP) is a supermax state prison located in Wise County, Virginia, near Pound. Operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), it houses about 800 inmates.The prison opened in August 1998

Virgina Department of Corrections

Red Onion State Prison (ROSP) is a supermax state prison located in Wise County, Virginia, near Pound. Operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), it houses about 800 inmates.