ST. CROIX — Senator Franklin Johnson said he was deliberately blocked from meeting with Virgin Islands inmates and attending a parole board hearing when he traveled to Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi last December despite prearranging the visit after receiving complaints from inmates.
Johnson said the fatal stabbing of Virgin Islands inmate N’Kosi Parris at Tallahatchie last week compelled him to go public with concerns he has struggled to get Governor Albert Bryan Jr. and the VI Bureau of Corrections to address since his December visit went awry.
Johnson had traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi, where he was attending a conference of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, when he arranged a side trip to the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility — a roughly five-hour drive each way — to check on Virgin Islands inmates transferred there under the watch of BOC Director Wynnie Testamark.
Upon arriving at the facility — run by the private prison corporation CoreCivic — Johnson said the warden, Stanley Lovett, gave him a partial tour that amounted to a carefully managed nonvisit.
“They showed me a lot, but they didn’t show me anything,” Johnson said. “They took me to the cluster where our prisoners were. I wasn’t allowed to see them.”
Johnson said Lovett told him the inmates were on a headcount. He said, however, he subsequently received calls from inmates who were anticipating his visit, informing him they were on lockdown all day during his visit. Johnson said the warden had lied to him outright.
The situation took another turn when Johnson attempted to observe the Virgin Islands Parole Board, which was meeting at the facility that same day.
Johnson said Dennis Howell, Virgin Islands Parole Board chair, personally invited him to sit in on the proceedings. Johnson said the warden refused, telling him Testamark had ordered that he not be allowed inside.
The senator was left sitting in a conference room, having made a nearly ten-hour round trip at public expense, unable to see a single inmate or observe a single parole hearing.
Johnson’s frustrations with access are compounded by what he described as a dangerous and deteriorating situation inside the facility for Virgin Islands inmates.
Within the last three to four months, he said at least four Virgin Islands inmates including Parris have been badly stabbed at Tallahatchie. Johnson attributes the violence in large part to a broken classification process that allows rival inmates from the Virgin Islands to be housed together in the same cluster. When inmates are transferred from the Virgin Islands to Tallahatchie, he said information about conflicts between individuals is not being reliably transmitted to the facility.
“The classification process is not working well,” Johnson said. “In other words, the institution on the mainland, for whatever reason, isn’t getting the information that these different individuals have conflict with each other, and they are meeting up in the same cluster, and it’s an all-out war.”
Johnson voiced concern about other issues the Virgin Islands inmates are facing at Tallahatchie relating to the visitation process, medical care, and the completion of psychiatric evaluations for inmates eligible for parole.
“I personally believe that our prisoners are being treated unfairly,” he said. “A lot of the guys complain about the meals that they get. A lot of them complain a lot of times trying to get to see the doctor. There’s a lot of complaint going on and it’s falling on deaf ears.”
Johnson spoke of a visitation process that presents a nearly impassable barrier for family members. When a family member submits a visitation request, he said it must first go to Tallahatchie before being routed to the Virgin Islands for approval. He said the request then returns to Tallahatchie for a second approval along with a background check, noting one inmate he spoke with has been waiting a year for his visitors to be approved.
Medical care is similarly mired in bureaucratic delay, according to the senator.
Before any medication can be prescribed, Johnson said Tallahatchie must obtain approval from Testamark.
“It’s micromanaging from the Virgin Islands to Tallahatchie,” he said.
When it comes to psychiatric evaluations inmates need completed before appearing in front of the Virgin Islands Parole Board, Johnson said inmates are reportedly not receiving them.
Since returning from Mississippi, Johnson said he has attempted to escalate his concerns to the governor, requesting a meeting that would include Testamark. The meeting has been repeatedly delayed to the extent that Johnson said he does not think it will ever happen.
Johnson described Testamark’s posture toward the inmates as one of willful neglect coupled with excessive control, suggesting she has turned a blind eye to their welfare while simultaneously blocking anyone who might intervene.
“I want to make sure that the Virgin Islands prisoners are treated fairly,” he said, adding the most important thing is that the inmates receive proper meals, medical attention, and a fair chance at parole if they are eligible.
Johnson made clear that despite the stonewalling, he has no intention of backing down.
“It’s a very sad situation, and I hope that this message will get clear to Testamark and the governor that I’m not going to just lay down and stay quiet about it,” he said.
Testamark, Government House, and CoreCivic did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
