A lawsuit over a Virginia prison inmate's death has raised broader questions about conditions at the lockup and newly obtained records are providing further insights.

The Virginia State Police investigator seemed puzzled about what the inmate was describing: “unbearable” conditions at a prison so cold that toilet water would freeze over and inmates were repeatedly treated for hypothermia.

“How do you get hypothermia in a prison?” the investigator asked. “You shouldn’t.”

The exchange, captured on video obtained by The Associated Press, took place during an investigation into the death of Charles Givens, a developmentally disabled inmate at the Marion Correctional Treatment Center, who records show was among those repeatedly hospitalized for hypothermia.

After a special grand jury considered the case but opted not to bring criminal charges, Givens’ sister sued in federal court, alleging her brother was subjected to routine mistreatment, including “cold-water torture,” before he was fatally beaten in 2022.

The lawsuit has raised broader questions about conditions at the southwest Virginia prison, which the grand jury described as “inhumane and deplorable.”

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    22·
    6 months ago

    Harvard is the mainstream media? The University of Michigan is the mainstream media?

    Again you clearly don’t see how much of a strangle hold corporations have on everything including the “news”. The people you’re voting for don’t represent you. They are there to collect big bucks from corporate lobbying.

    All of these politicians are filthy rich. Ask yourself why when their salary is less than 100k a year.

    Again, why are you not getting out the guillotine if you’re complaining about this? Because you said that makes someone a hypocrite if they complain about America but don’t get out the guillotine.

    • Coreidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      6 months ago

      LOL Harvard is all rich people. They represent rich people. Who do you think owns the 24 hour news cycle? Rich people. Who do you think is buying politicans? Rich people. Wake up and get off Fox News. If you want to sling shit at anyone it’s corporations.

        • Coreidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          13·
          6 months ago

          Because you said that makes someone a hypocrite if they complain about America but don’t get out the guillotine.

          Actually I never said this. So either you have reading problems or you’re now trying to use straw man arguments to win a moronic position.

          The reason I don’t pull the guillotines out is the same reason you don’t. But I am not going to sit here and circle jerk myself into thinking that voting is going to change anything when we have 50 years of evidence that it doesn’t.

          I called you a hypocrite because you’re calling out Americans when you’re sitting on your ass. I am not the one calling anyone out except you.

          I can tell you’re bad at reading comprehension.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            21·
            6 months ago

            The reason I don’t pull the guillotines out is the same reason you don’t. But I am not going to sit here and circle jerk myself into thinking that voting is going to change anything when we have 50 years of evidence that it doesn’t.

            …and we’re back to ‘do nothing and change nothing.’