I am a perfect example of the rehabilitation programs offered by the Virginia department of corrections.... I was at Coffee Wood were I acquired my G.E.D & a certification as a Optician.... I was deported back to Jamaica in 2004 after completing my sentence.... I am now the Senior Optician for the company I work for these past 15 years... Crime Free!!!

I agree with the inmate who said that basically the program does not matter if he has to sacrifice his self-respect for it. I have a guy in Red Onion, and he said it's not really optional, there are occasions where there's just no choice but there's a nuance to that anywhere you go not just in prison. If you sacrifice your self-respect for most reasons, to avoid a fight, to keep a job or a relationship, it's almost never going to be worth it.

Is it just me or does it seem like robbers get more time than murderers?

check out "Red Onion Randy", a weekly podcast with Red Onion prisoner Randall Via who spent 13 years in seg. It's really good.

I did the cognitive self-change also known as CSC in prison and I got to tell you it was the most rewarding program I ever did and it changed my life dramatically for the better I owe everything to the facilitators in the Vermont department of corrections of the CSC program they helped me,big time

They must have got in a lot of trouble after that documentary came out!

Prisons should give inmates a secret ballot to vote on offenders who create the most threat of violence. And separate those offenders. It’s a crime itself that the US Justice department forces non violent inmates into violent situations, where they have to choose between survival and obedience.

I was an inmate for 13 years. Most of this came only after lawsuits filed.

$50 and a bus ticket is what I got when I left Powhatan in 93. This after a lengthy juvenile criminal history (5 Juvenile detention homes, 2 group homes, 14 foster homes, 3 boys schools, job corp.. Then as an adult 5 city jails, 6 prisons, 2 road camps. Then I got out after a 10 year bit with that whole $50. Woo Hoo! I was a time and battle hardened convict who one day I'm a convict in prison then the next I'm released upon society. Everyone expected me to go back! I made the choice that I would not let what circumstances society forces on me to be the reason I go back to prison. 26 Years later and I still make a conscience decision each day to keep the Convict inside me in check. Don't get me wrong. I have no desire to be a criminal in any way. I don't even drink or use drugs. But too often I have to let someone get away with speaking in a disrespectful manner that in prison, I would have peeled their wigs back (Tie a pad lock on a rope or belt that's wrapped around my wrist held in my hand that I would smash over some fools head a dozen times or so. That's what I had a rep for doing.) The way I describe it to people is that one day I was in a cage with many pissed off lions just like myself. Then the next day I was put out in society and told to play nice with a field full of cute little bunnies. I can not tell you how many times in the last 26 years I wanted to break some fools jaw for flapping their mouths off! Think about this - "I" have kept the Convict in me in check for 26 years. I'm just one man! Most don't make the same decisions I did! Most who have been in my shoes will kill again if they get out. It's not because they are bad people. It's about training and conditioning! When you go into the system, becoming a killer is just part of the training and conditioning you get in there. NOT being one is a choice "I" make though despite how society likes to push my buttons! There's millions out there who have been in my shoes, what choices do you leave them!?

The assistant Warden and half the administration looks like a bunch of criminals.

I mean, this is the most positive thing i've seen in a while. To be honest, as a european i would not even have imaged a change like that being possible in the U.S. I'm not talking about the change of offenders in the first place but change in thinking on the part of the U.S. jurisdiction. I hope this new way of looking at incarceration can be a role model for other prisons in the U.S. and elsewhere as it truly seems to be a worthy role model.

Value my Freedom Like I Value my Life.. All da Best Righteous People..

Appears to be a very good approach. What has you recidivism rate been since implementing these programs?

I was the official supplier of weed to the warden at Red Onion and we would often take hits from the bong and frolick naked at night banging gongs and barking at the moon

I did 3 years in Virginia and Maryland DOC. I was a heroin addict and thief for 14 years. Im now 8 years sober, and living in Florida. im 37 years old, and have my life back. I corrected myself while incarcerated, learned how to draw very well, took classes, got in great shape, and read literally hundreds of books. It changed my life for the better. The Lord Jesus disciplines those He Loves me.

Just noticed this is the place Jay Williams (Let's life life) was talking about in one of his videos.

What needs to change is giving these fools, opportunity after they are released. Because I befriended a guy who was released after being locked down for seven years . The biggest issue was the sense of intitlement . He was given certain things in prison so it was hard to convince him to save and do the right thing financially for long term success. Finally he stole my business phone and I lost contacts that took me years to make, so I had to cut the apron strings. To help him realize that nothing is free even a simple friendship

0:53 The guy doing squats had me like... "One, one, one, one"😄

It’s crazy seeing this documentary after listening to @BankyPounds tell stories about this place and others. Strait Larceny, Tom foolery, skull duggary 😮

The prison system is such a huge. Business.hard to believe how many people locked up.

Great video

Solid Docu - nice work

For a long time I was one of those people who thought that convicted people should be thrown away in prison and never to be heard from again. This video truly opened my eyes since there are prisoners who will one day be released back into our communities and we need to train them so they don’t repeat a crime that’ll hurt a victim. also I believe that it’s safer for those who work at the prisons. There is a saying and I will paraphrase train the mind and the body will follow. Thank you for making this video.

What a difference” thx uploader 👍💯

These new programs are blessings for everyone.

What an innovative prison system! Bravo-education changes everything!

Every time I watch a documentary about Red Onion there is a different warden. Must be a hard job eh?

If you can walk into a maximum facility without body armor,head gear and a face shield, it's not a Max.

I drive past here everyday and I’ve always wondered what’s its like

I googled that prison and they have settled a bunch of lawsuits for wrongful death.

Wow that's some pretty incredible change compared to the situation that was shown in the HBO documentary. Thumbs up for that new director who initiated that apparently much needed change. It all makes much more sense now as at least it gives the inmates (and staff) some sort of goals and perspective.

This is good red onion 🧅 has a had a bad rap for years but now they are actually helping the inmates

The rich pay the fine, the poor do the time..11820-027

These prisoners sound like they are giving themselves a second chance .

This whole video is trying to make red onion seem like the prison that is not.

One of my good friends from school is serving 63 years here. My brother also served time here.

Well done. Superb.

Aww. Ive always put on my bucket list a good lengthy stretch at Red Onion. With a warden like that, I have great faith indeed, that all my dismannerisms will be rehabilitated indeed. Yes, I said indeed twice.

35:00 Brad Jett you dead ass wrong for your hair 😂🤣

Everyone has their own "module"? Lady, those are called cages. Don't sugar coat the fact that these dudes are locked in tiny cages.

Wow that’s nice !!!! All others prisons 👉🏾should follow suit the RESULTS seem amazing

Fall asleep watching this lol

this is a great documentary, HBO did a doc on this same prison (and some of the same prisoners) called super maximum

My best friend from high school is here at the onion. He gets released in 2032, good guy, just got messed up with the wrong crowd.

Wonder which track I need? I.m. or s.m? Idk, can't stop the violence.

This is some of the worst narration I've ever heard. Did she take a handful of Quaaludes before going into the booth to record this???

Harold Clarke has quite the nice office.

19:43 thats exactly the showers they cook people in. They rig it so the water temperature is 70-80 degrees celsius, they throw the guy in, lock it, and they scrub them with exactly these brushes in the mean time. Thats if they smear shit on theyself. Thats the usual punishment for it by the goon squad. Lots of people have died from this.

For the SAM convicts he really only had to say “this is the group of inmates that Forest Gump and his simple yet happy pal Bubba would be a part of.”

Wow this is amazing change compared to the old way this will help the offenders improve and change.

I notice these men interact with men from different "races". Very different & wonderful to see 💕💕💕💕

To all my Tears .... I Continue to LIFT Ur Accomodations and Legal Representation may GOD WORK FOR THE PEOPLE AND EACH OF CHOOSE TRUTH....

I would love to be a treatment officer

In other words, "a bureaucratic hell"...

My best friend from high school is serving an 89 year sentence there. I send him money once a month, I try to visit a few times a year. He caught his wife with another man and it cost him 89. He snapped.

I gotta family member that did over 10 in maximum security for B&E in VA. When he came home I was 14, he said to me; “boy, don’t go stealing nothing, Virginia don’t like thieves”. 😂

The guy’s head in the thumbnail looks like a red onion.

If they want to give the inmates "treatment," give them painkillers and benzodiazapines.

The way the talk is like they have food in their mouth . haha

Is that a robot narrating?

what happened to the inmate randall??

I wonder how many so-called law abiding citizens in this prison situation would be categorized as a high level criminal because of the conditions and the solidarity of prison life!! I think a man who has never committed a serious crime would become a criminal in certain situations in these facilities

30:25 wtf how would you even spell her pronunciation of the word soil

Lars Hanson (19:51) and Michael Kelly (25:03) were featured in “Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison (HBO Documentary Films),” when they were in the harsh segregation unit. Find this on KZfaq. This is good that the prison has made improvements.

I saw this kid Hanson 20:20 on another documentary. He was in solitary confinement and in bad shape. Good to see him do better

Clarke used to be the DOC Commissioner in Massachusetts before moving to Virginia. He turned MCI Cedar Junction f.k.a MCI Walpole into the intake facility, making SBCC the only maximum security prison in Massachusetts.

What a surprise i got when i saw The Step down programme, offenders have waited a long time for this chance to progress, well done Red onion Staff from The United Kingdom👌

There's a spiritual sequel to this documentary at Red Onion and a lot of these same inmates interviewed are interviewed on that one as well and they're still in segregation years later.

They used a lot of the same inmates from the “Solitary” HBO documentry. Weird.

Sorry, boring to watch it could of been filmed so it’s more interesting to watch. The staff sound like their batteries are running low 🤔😬.

Could she not do this video without reading a script?

Ever hear of the "Norfolk 4"?

35 years for two armed robberies is messed up

thank GOD !!! They are still honorable ppl

To Hell with the law. I'm gonna do something illegal not because it helps me, but because it makes the authorities cry.

Good people making a difference to otherwise lost individuals. It'd be wonderful to see these types of programs adapted to suit little one's in schools. A real education to change society early in life. None of us are responsible for the dialogue that is impressed into our minds before age 5. Everything goes into our subconscious up to then. Then we act out of that for the rest of our lives. Congratulations to these people in this program. Staff, inmates and higher officials making it possible.

Nice respectively very nice but in reality way diff facilities then Western californian State prisons systems... Looks very possitive ....good video..

Places like this show the world who we really are.

They need team building and programing for guards. Also some time in nature, grass, trees, sunlight. Have more natural lighting, and in lower levels some control over their surroundings like light switches. Maybe even a comfortable bed.

Locking a human in a cage for 13 hours a day and having those brights on 24/7 is torture sensory deprivation

fletcher should do some laps of the yard

Kudos to Virginia Department of Correction Director Harold Clarke in pushing for this sort of reform at Red Onion State Prison. When it was opened in 1998 during the reign of then VADOC director Ron Angelone, Red Onion was touted as the end of the line for violent and irredeemable offenders. It is good to see that inmates now are being given the opportunity to improve their own behavior through positive reinforcement and education as opposed to only being subject to segregation without any incentive for improvement.

I hope they were able to keep these programs in place since the pandemic happened.

This is a good change compared to the HBO Documentary Supermaxx based on this facility. At the time of the documentary being filmed this prison was a solitary confinement only institution and science has proven over and over and over again if you keep an inmate locked up in solitary confinement like that for long periods of time he is bound to literally go crazy and be worse off than he was... So seeing this makes me happy it’s a change in the right direction

I'm a free man. And yet I'm so proud of y'all and I thank God 🙏 for y'all giving those guys a chance and helping them

I be up in da onion right now. Online in the library. The prison is much worse in here now.

This is great if it runs smoothly and they do everything they say

I feel bad for some of these inmates.. Not able to read, do math and education. I am sure it was how they were raised and they don't have any resources. I find it sad. I hope, when they get out, they're getting their lives together and on track.

i see some hope here...could it spread to other facilities ? i hope so ! we are all brothers and sisters. good luck to all incarcerated brothers and sisters.. practice loving yourself,,and loving our brothers and sisters...greed destroys us ,,,love saves us !!....love feels better !!!

The idea is to protect the public and punish offenders, not create jobs

Just look what happened in Walkinshaw Brooks. He was in an out of prison 20 times in 12 years. Can you believe that 20 times in 12 years he was in an out of prison

I wish all prisons could implement this in their prisons!

Humanity will always exist as long as the process of how to think instead of what to think exists. Perhaps the staffs of correctional institutions should have always realized this.

The After prison show brought me here. heard it's where the shit goes down!

great vid, shows what can be done!

Now this is how a prison should be run..my hats off to everyone involved. God bless you all...

Gotta make those state jobs! Cattle!

Inspirational documentary

I remember when the warden was chief of security at Powhatan

There should be some agreement to companies that inmates work for inside prison should also have jobs for those same inmates once they get into the freeworld. The only reason they do not is simply because profits are 100x better paying that same person in prison to work for them at .30 per hour then say 15.00 an hr to the same people who are released into the freeworld after working and earning those same companies so many insane profits and tax deductions using prisoners as 100% of there employess. Don't hate the player,hate the game! Just as an addict chooses to use these companies choose to not improve or "rehabilitate" inmates.Why bother, so you can gain those same employees again for another 3to5years in just a few months later . System is completely broken and is chosen not to be fixed!