Oh Warden Where Art Thou?

We’ve got a new warden and she’s a doozy. I’m starting on my third warden here and I’ve only been at this compound eleven months.



The first, Carol Wallace, was universally hated by inmates. She played favorites, supported a snitch environment and micro-managed the compound. Worse, she was dishonest. She’d say things to inmates then renege. Her word was no good. She allowed her officer corps to act absolutely arbitrarily toward inmates.


When she left at year-end she wrote a venomous letter to the inmate population. It was self-serving and self-righteous. “You will never turn your life around with the behavior and attitudes you exhibit in here.” What she didn’t realize (or maybe she did, but just didn’t care) was that if you treat inmates like crap, they’ll reciprocate in kind. Guys who are locked up almost always feel like they’re getting screwed. She made them realize just how badly.


You can’t help but have a chip on your shoulder when you’re in prison. Even knowing you were wrong, knowing you deserved to be punished, doesn’t make the loss of freedom any easier. Add to that mix a tyrannical, dishonest warden and you have a toxic pool of gang activity, stealing and general disrespect for the rules and the officers.


Carol Wallace was a poor excuse for a compassionate human being; she was a poor excuse for a department manager; that probably made her an excellent DOC employee.


The first of the year a new warden started. Kimberly Runion had been warden at DOC’s Brunswick facility which included Virginia’s sexual offender therapy program. Of the 1100 inmates housed there, over 800 were in the treatment program.


Runion was “pro-inmate”. She started her career back in the 1970’s as a counselor at “the wall”, Virginia’s notorious state penitentiary in Richmond. An avowed opponent of capital punishment and firm believer in the possibility of redemption, Runion was honest and straight forward. She had very few rules:


1) Proper attire


2) No cursing at officers


3) No spitting on sidewalks


4) No drugs


5) No gang activity


She expected, no demanded, that her officers treat inmates fairly and with respect. The number of charges written dropped. Rec hours increased, food improved. She would sit outside the chow hall everyday at lunch and talk to inmates.


Life was easy with Runion as warden. Actually, too easy. A lot of guys started acting like they weren’t in prison. They viewed their stay here as something akin to a poorly planned vacation. Guys got comfortable and, as any “old head” will tell you, there is nothing more hazardous in a prison than a bunch of guys who get comfortable.


Gangs made an appearance. Extra investigators were brought to the compound. It took months to clear them out. Guys began making demands for new food, new commissary items, crazy stuff. And, when they didn’t get their way, they bitched and moaned. The officers got bitter because control, in subtle ways was lost.


Runion left August 27th. She was asked to run Virginia’s therapeutic, long-term sexual offender facility in Nottoway. There was a gloom that fell over the compound on her departure. Most guys realized they had it good, probably too good for prison.


Enter Saturday, September 25th, the day the new warden, Ms. Avent, started. Already things are in upheaval and rumors are flying everywhere:


“Ya hear she’s gonna close the rec yards ‘cept for three hours in the afternoon?”


“I hear she’s closed the dog program and movin’ all the kitchen and VCE guys to one building.”


“Oh yeah, hear she’s makin’ all the guys with long bids move to other compounds.”


“I hear she’s gonna close this prison. They gonna give her a big bonus to do it by year-end.”


She clearly “ain’t no Miss Runion”.


On her first day she walked up to a large group of COs outside west chow hall and said “I need two inside and two outside shaking down. The rest of you, get to work.” She then put in place “controlled movement”. If your name isn’t on the “master pass list”, you don’t leave your building.


For months, guys would simply tell their building CO “I need to run up to the school” or the library, or the barber, and you’d walk out of the building. The master pass list wasn’t maintained. It is now. Everyone’s scrambling at school, programs, security, to get the pass list correct.


Then today, the building Lieutenant came in and announced “only two books on your bunks or we’re writin’ charges”. Being OCD about organization, my area was already up to par. But, there are a huge number of rules that are impossible to comply with. Guys just simply lack adequate storage space.


Things are tense. And, when things get tense, tempers flare. There’ll be fights. Guys will start filing grievances. It’s all part of the “circle of life” in prison.


I don’t mind rules. I put myself in here so like it or not I have to live with the hand I’m dealt. Hopefully, she’ll be stricter (a little anyway) than Runion, but not arbitrary or dishonest like Wallace.


You have to pick your battles in here. I’m willing to let things shake out, but if pushed by a dishonest warden, one who jeopardizes my safety and well-being, I’ll file suit. We’ll know more over the next 90 days.