Letters for July 31: Virginia prisons need more oversight

Inmate death

Re “FBI investigating death of intellectually disabled inmate at Smyth County prison, document shows” (July 24): There is no excuse for the way Charles Givens was allegedly treated at Marion Correctional Treatment Center in 2022. First, a person with an intellectual disability should be cared for in a humane way everywhere, even in prison. Second, regarding the alleged inhumane conditions, why was not an alarm raised the first time he was treated for hypothermia, let alone four times? He also was treated for other abuse and or neglect, the lawsuit alleges.

Third, what kind of warden allows these conditions? Fourth, this incident is another clear example of the need for an independent board to oversee prisons — not the boards that currently exist, run by state employees. I want to see Gov. Glenn Youngkin create more oversight.

An alleged brutal killing of someone who is unable to defend himself is inexcusable. This death is on all of the heads of our correctional and justice system. The alleged conditions at Marion rival anything we are hearing about in Russian prisons.

Rosemarie Scotti Hughes, Virginia Beach

Law firm

Re “Our HOA fired its law firm over the Richneck shooting” (Other Views, July 22): John Gadzinski’s column concerning the firing of his homeowner’s association’s law firm, Pender & Coward, was perplexing. Apparently as president of his homeowner’s association, he fired Pender & Coward over its representation of the Newport News School Board in the Abby Zwerner shooting case.

“Getting shot as a teacher should never be considered a ‘workplace injury,’” Gadzinski writes, a reference to the legal position taken by the Newport News School Board, which is that the case should be heard before the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission and not in Newport News Circuit Court.

As a self-proclaimed expert on safety and risk management, Gadzinski is either unaware or has forgotten that Pender & Coward cannot make unilateral decisions on behalf of clients. The School Board was well informed before its response to the lawsuit was filed. For Pender & Coward not to recommend a workplace injury strategy would certainly be malpractice on its part and potentially shift exposure from the School Board to the law firm.

We all share Gadzinski’s frustration surrounding violence in schools and other gathering places. However, the redress can be found in Richmond or Washington. To suggest Pender & Coward is at fault makes no sense and will not reduce the violence in our schools.

I wish Gadzinski’s assertion, about a teacher getting shot should never be a workplace injury was accurate. Unfortunately, I’m no longer surprised to pick up the newspaper and see school teachers and students killed by gunfire. For teachers, it is becoming an all too common workplace injury.

Pat Yockey, Norfolk

Right move

Re “Discrimination” (Your Views, July 25): The letter makes me wonder how anyone living in Virginia Beach today can really believe that “one ‘who is Black, Latinx, LGBTQ+, or poor’ … is ‘banned from participating in American society.’” Just look around. Nor does the letter writer appear to have any understanding of the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action opinions.

The majority opinion and a concurrence by Justice Clarence Thomas both cite with approval the lone dissent by Justice John Marshall Harlan in critiquing Plessy v. Ferguson that said segregation could be legal if it were “separate but equal.” These recent opinions seek to abolish affirmative action precisely because it endorses separate treatment for different races, not because it eliminates it. They squarely uphold the Constitution, especially including its key amendments. They treat “equal protection” as equal for everyone — hardly a segregationist position. Go back and read them.

Stephen Middlebrook, Virginia Beach