Rashid recorded yesterday by Prison Radio
Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, recounts his experience of violent retaliation, he was transferred to Red Onion State Prison, by the Virginia Department of Corrections to prevent him from receiving treatment for ongoing serious health problems.
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He was transported in October from Sussex State Prison to Red Onion State Prison (ROSP), “a Virginia prison with an extensive history of racism and abuse.”
Here are excerpts of his description of the harrowing abuse suffered at the hands of the Virginia special tactical unit that oversaw his transport here:
“With the obvious intent to provoke my resistance, they attempted to have me submit to being cuffed in a regular small-sized pair of handcuffs, cuffs designed to fit the wrists of a much smaller person. I am over 260 lbs and have medical orders for oversized cuffs because regular-sized cuffs do not fit my wrists without cutting into them causing impaired circulation and injury if I wear them at length….I told these transport guards about my medical pass for oversized cuffs and asked them to contact ranking guards or the medical department for confirmation. They refused and proceeded, as I stood in only boxer shorts, to spray me repeatedly with large—indeed lethal—quantities of tear gas.”
“All my personal property was left behind except a couple of books, a notebook, a cup, some loose papers, and a few hygiene items I’d had in my cell. None of my legal property was brought with me, although the officials knew I had numerous court filing deadlines including one expiring on November 3rd….On the long ride to ROSP they didn’t turn on any AC but left the van sweltering, so that I was sweating the entire ride, to keep the gas on my skin inflamed. They also neither offered nor gave me water nor food the entire day.”
“I reported experiencing chest pains. A nurse Bradley took my blood pressure which measured 152/105—dangerously high! Not only was nothing done, but I was not given my morning dose of blood pressure medications. In addition to being left to suffer over 7 hours in a sweltering van, with burning flesh, erratic heartbeat, chest pain, hunger, and dehydration, I was made to ride in a “Freddie Gray” van—a transport with bare thick steel benches and walls with no padding or protection against being banged against its surfaces while the vehicle is in motion. Seat belts offer no protection either. Prisoner injuries in these vehicles are common. Indeed, their very purpose is to inflict pain and injury.”
“It should be noted that the Special tactical unit of which these guards are a part that wears special green uniforms, is almost exclusively white and they specialize in the use of violence against Virginia’s disproportionately Black prisoner population. It is a likely recruiting unit for white supremacists like him…. [They] felt the need to make repeated racist remarks referring to me… Not only did they repeatedly refer to me as “n—-,” but one of the transport guards expressed that he wished he “could kill all n—–s and inmates.”
After Kevin “Rashid” Johnson was forced to endure this terrible treatment during the transport to Virginia’s ROSP, he was made aware that the purpose of his re-location was “to prevent me from receiving care for these problems which require hospital diagnostic testing and treatment.” Denied treatment and care for a known case of cancer for a year and a half, and suffering from chronic undiagnosed swelling of his feet and ankles since July 2022, Rashid has been able to access treatment through the VDOC “only in response to public protest.” Their history of delaying, avoiding, and restricting access to essential health treatment is being repeated in this recent re-location to ROSP. In his words: “By moving me to Wise County I would be removed from Central and Eastern regions of the state where hospital care is available for VDOC prisoners.”
Once inside the ROSP, Rashid describes horrifying conditions such as “Filthy holes in the cell doors in which vermin fester, are where guards require everything to be passed through, including shoes, dirty clothes, meals, beverages, etc. Yet they are never cleaned.”
“Johnson is emerging as the intellectual equivalent of a 21st Century George Jackson. His writing and reporting from TX, OR, FL, OH, and VA prisons and has generated a worldwide audience. A powerful antidote to shackles, prison bars, and brutal isolation: is art. Kevin Rashid Johnson’s beautiful artwork (created in solitary confinement) radiates with love and resistance. Each inspired sketch, drawing, and article tackles harsh realities head-on, bringing hope into existence and making the fabric of resistance stronger.” (Noelle Hanrahan, Prison Radio)
Check out Rashid’s work on his website and learn more about his situation inside ROSP. He is the author of Defying the Tomb (2010) and Panther Vision (2015). Since October 2021, he has been suffering from cancer and fighting for treatment. He currently writes poetry and is working on his autobiography.
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