Twelve Black inmates at Red Onion State Prison, Virginia's first super-maximum security prison, have reportedly set themselves on fire since September in a bid to get transferred away from abusive guards, according to current inmates.
The first reported incident concerned Demetrius Wallace, 27, who told The Virginia Defender he set his leg on fire on Aug. 23 because he knew he would have to be transported out of the prison for treatment. Since guards waited three days before taking Wallace to the nearest burn unit seven hours away, he had to have a skin graft and spent 14 days in the hospital.
When he returned, he told The Defender guards harassed him, denied access to his email, and stuck him in "the hole."
"Everything is still the same," Wallace said, adding that, while he was seeking treatment, he witnessed five of his fellow inmates arrive with severe burns.
Over the course of two weeks, Kevin Rashid Johnson told Prison Radio a dozen inmates had set themselves on fire to escape "intolerable racism, abuse, and inhumane conditions."
Ekong Eshiet, 28, is one of those 12 prisoners. He set his leg on fire on Sept. 15 then went on a hunger strike on Oct. 23.
"There's been name calling, they call him Eat-Shit, they spit in his food. After he hurt himself, they treated him for minor burn wounds," Eshiet's mother told The Defender.
Eshiet added he is trying to get out of the prison and going about it the best way he can through a hunger strike.
"But if I have to, I don't mind setting myself on fire again, and this time I'll set my whole body on fire," Eshiet told The Defender. "...I would rather die before I stay up here, because every day I'm dealing with discrimination, whether it's behind my race, my last name or my religion."
Red Onion State Prison, located atop Red Onion Mountain, has been riddled with allegations of abuse since opening in 1998. The Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have released reports citing human rights violations.
More than two-thirds of its inmates are held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, ranging from two weeks to 14 years. One inmate spent over 600 days in solitary confinement and was served food covered in maggots, per reporting by Business Insider.
In protest, prisoners have, in addition to self-immolating, gone on months-long hunger strikes.
Regarding recent reports, the prison's warden, David Anderson, initially denied prisoners are self-immolating, then told The Defender he "really shouldn't be commenting on this."
