A Black Prisoner Is Punished For Refusing An Order To Sit At A Table With Three White Supremacists

By Uhuru B. Rowe
August 23, 2018
Email: uhururowe76@yahoo.com

“The function of Sussex II State Prison is to provide a safe and secure environment…Offenders… have the right to be free from verbal and physical abuse from others.” — Sussex II State Prison Offender Orientation Manual (2018)

The numerous policies of Sussex II State Prison (SIISP), like the one quoted above from the Offender Orientation Manual (OOM), looks good on paper, but they are rarely, if ever, put into practice by SIISP employees.

Consider the case of Brian O. Smith, Prison I.D. #1152312, a New Afrikan (Black) prisoner here at SIISP. I first met Smith when he was released from the Restrictive Housing Unit (i.e. the hole) back in May and assigned to a cell in the same block as me. When he told me he went by the alias Freedom, I immediately felt a connection with the brother because my first name, in Swahili, also means Freedom. It wasn’t long before we started sitting in the day-room together and strategizing about how we could use the grievance procedure to redress our dehumanizing living conditions. During the course of these Think Tank sessions, a brotherhood was formed. So when Sergeant B. L. Clinkscales, herself an Afrikan, tried to force Smith to sit at a cafeteria table with three die-hard white supremacists against his will, I took it extremely personal.

Even though the OOM says that, after receiving our meals, prisoners must sit where instructed by a correctional officer, this policy is almost never enforced. We are allowed great leeway in choosing where we want to sit in the cafeteria. However, during lunch, on June 5, 2018, Sgt. Clinkscales ordered Smith to sit at a table with three members of the racist Aryan Brotherhood gang. When Smith refused, Sgt. Clinkscales threatened to write him a Disciplinary Offense Report (DOR) if he did not sit where she instructed him to. I listened intently as Smith tried to explain to Sgt. Clinkscales that, as a New Afrikan, she was putting his life and safety in jeopardy by ordering him to sit at a table with three members of a racist organization which has a well documented history of committing acts of violence against New Afrikan prisoners all over the country.

Not moved by Smith’s explanation as to why he did not want to sit at a table with three white supremacists, Sgt. Clinkscales then instructed another Correctional Officer (C/O) to give her Smith’s name and prison number so that she could write him an infraction. Upon exiting the cafeteria, I asked Sgt. Clinkscales if, upon entering a restaurant, if she would allow herself (and her family) to be seated at a table with a bunch of white supremacists with swastikas tattooed all over their face and arms? Recognizing that a truthful answer would reveal a contradiction, she refused to answer.

The next day, on June 6, C/O J. Booth served Smith a DOR for “Disobeying an Order.” (Case # SXII-2018-1160) In the body of the DOR, Sgt. Clinkscales described the incident this way:

“On the above date and approximate time, I, Sgt. Clinkscales, gave a direct order to the offender to sit down at a specific table. All the offenders were being told where to set [sic] in the A side dining hall. The Offender refused to do so. Therefore this charge is written.”

Predictably, there was no mention of the reason why Smith refused to sit at the table and there was no mention of the threat Smith said he would’ve felt for his safety and well being had he sat at a table with three white supremacists/neo-nazis.

When one views this incident against the backdrop of the deadly Unite the Right white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville on August 12, 2018, where 32-year-old anti-racist Heather Heyer was run over by a car driven by self-avowed neo-nazi James Fields, Jr., it is inconceivable that Sgt. Clinkscales would try and force a Black prisoner to sit at a table with three white supremacists, especially after he repeatedly expressed concern for his safety and well being.  Her actions didn’t reflect the actions of someone who desires to “provide a safe and secure environment” for incarcerated people and to protect the right of incarcerated people “to be free from verbal and physical abuse from others.” They reflected the actions of someone who wanted to instigate violence.

Why would prison officials want to instigate violence between prisoners? Consider this: Virginia has one of the safest prison systems in the country. Meaning, there’s a relatively low number of prisoner-on-prisoner or prisoner-on-staff assaults as compared to other prison systems. So the State cannot rationalize the existence of prisons like Sussex II which — along with Sussex I, Red Onion, and Wallens Ridge State Prisons — were built, ostensibly, to house the worst-of-the-worst. However, the vast majority of prisoners here at SIISP have no history of institutional violence and are compliant with prison rules, several years infraction-free, and qualify for medium security custody status.

So how does SIISP remain open as a maximum security prison which was built for “the-worst-of-the-worst” when a majority of prisoners housed here have no history of institutional violence or assaultive behavior?

Well, prison officials nationwide are known to instigate and allow violence to occur among a select group of prisoners which serves a valid purpose. Why? So the violence can be used as a propaganda tool to justify keeping prisons like SIISP open as maximum security prisons in order to ensure job security for ALL SIISP employees, including for Sgt. Clinkscales. Why else would a black Sergeant try to force a black prisoner to sit at a cafeteria table with three white supremacists/neo-nazis, especially in the aftermath of the deadly Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and then punish him for refusing to do so?

How Sussex 2 State Prison Officials Murdered Prisoner John Tran

By Uhuru B. Rowe
August 26, 2018
Email: uhururowe76@yahoo.com

“Corrections officials tend to have a single-track mindset: guards oversee prisoners in an attempt to maintain security and order. But what if the looking glass needs to be reversed and the jailers need to be overseen instead?” — Christopher Zoukis

Twelve. That is the number of preventable deaths of incarcerated people said to have occurred here at Sussex 2 State Prison (S2SP) since November of 2016. Actually, it’s more than twelve. Because these deaths were happening so frequently, many of us stopped counting at twelve.

I described two of these deaths in a post on my blog titled, “Different Prison, Same Old Abuse.” With this post, however, I want to raise public awareness about one death in particular, and that is the murder of John Tran which resulted from the gross negligence and utter disregard for human life demonstrated by S2SP officials.

John Tran was within two years of going home to his family. Whenever he found the occasion to talk to me about his son, he always had a twinkle in his eyes. Unbeknownst to Tran and to those of us who considered him a friend, he would not get the chance to see his son again on the other side of these prison walls. That’s because on January 11, 2017, he was beaten to death during, what many say was, an hour-long confrontation with his cellmate. But Tran’s cellmate should not have been blamed for his death, as was the case. Blame should have been cast solely at the feet of S2SP officials who were aware of a potential violent conflict between Tran and his cellmate and yet did nothing to prevent it.

Below are three acts of gross negligence by S2SP officials which contributed to Tran’s murder. I discovered these facts during the course of interviews I conducted with the prisoners who were present that fateful day in Housing Unit 2, Pod A (HU2A) where Tran was murdered.

Number #1: Due to critical under staffing levels which has plagued S2SP the last two years, there wasn’t a correctional officer (C/O) stationed on the floor to monitor and patrol HU2A on the day Tran was murdered. The under staffing levels at S2SP, which has reached almost 40% according to news reports, is so bad that C/Os are being bused in from prisons across the state to temporarily fill vacancies. However, S2SP remains understaffed, especially at night and on the weekends. Consequently, this under staffing contributed to Tran’s death because there were no C/Os stationed on the floor in HU2A at the time of Tran’s death and his screams and cries for help went unheard and unanswered.

Number #2: All cells at S2SP are equipped with an emergency call box with a button that, when pressed, alerts the C/O stationed in the control booth that there is an emergency situation taking place in that particular cell. C/O D. Clark, who was stationed in the control booth on the day Tran was killed, deliberately ignored the emergency alert to Tran’s cell as he lay dying in a pool of blood. At the time, C/O D. Clark had a well known history of deliberately ignoring these emergency alerts and should not have been stationed in a control booth that day or any other day. Yet, the S2SP administration assigned C/O D. Clark to the control booth anyway, and continues to do so, even after Tran’s murder. Had S2SP administration not assigned C/O D. Clark to the control booth and had C/O D. Clark responded to the emergency alert to Tran’s cell, Tran would still be alive and his cellmate would not have been (unjustly) charged for his murder.

Number #3. In the weeks leading up to Tran’s death, Tran and his cellmate made several requests to Housing Unit #2 Manager (HUM), J. F. Mills, to be moved to another cell, which Mills ignored. These cell change requests, as they are called, are normally granted if it is found that the two people housed in a cell are not compatible. These requests, however, are routinely denied here at S2SP and has often resulted in violent, bloody conflicts between cellmates. Had HUM Mills moved either Tran or his cellmate once he was made aware of their incompatibility, Tran would still be alive and his cellmate would not be (unjustly) charged for his murder.

S2SP officials failed Tran and his cellmate at almost every level. As a result of their gross negligence, Tran lost his life and his cellmate is charged for his murder even though S2SP officials are at fault. This is the type of corruption I’ve been writing about in order to educate the People about the conditions we are subjected to behind these walls on a daily basis.

Because in all honesty, how many of you would have known about all of these deaths, including the murder of John Tran which was caused by the gross negligence and disregard for human life displayed by S2SP officials, if I didn’t write this post? And now that you know, what should you do?

On June 21, 2018, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered state officials to investigate the abuse claims made by immigrant children at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center. The same investigation should be made in regards to the 13 or more preventable deaths which has occurred here at S2SP since November 2016, especially the circumstances surrounding the death of Tran.

So, I’m calling on you, The People, to call Gov. Ralph Northam, at 804- 786-2211, and Secretary of Public Safety, Brian Moran, at 804-786-5351, and demand that they investigate these deaths. Demand that S2SP HUM Mills and C/O D. Clark be immediately terminated for their gross negligence and disregard for human life which led to Tran’s murder.

Otherwise, if you, the The People — whose tax dollars pays the salaries of these crooked and corrupt prison officials — don’t speak up and demand action, we’ll keep dying behind these walls and those responsible will continue to avoid accountability.

All Power to All the People!