By Kevin Rashid Johnson
Shawn “Flip” Joyner is a VA prisoner suffering with terminal brain cancer. On August 23,2021, after being rushed to the ER from Nottoway Correctional Center where he was diagnosed with grade 4 Glioblastoma, he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous mass from his brain. He also suffers cancerous tumors in his kidney and lung. Part of his kidney was also removed, while the cancer remains in his lung.At that time specialists predicted that he had 10-18 months to live. On top of enduring his own condition, Flip’s elderly mother has been recently diagnosed with kidney disease requiring daily dialysis and hospital care. He desires to be there to support her and attend to her care.The complications that attend his conditions and the separation from his mother during her own suffering make life painful and difficult for him, made all the worse by his being warehoused in a prison cell. Under these combined burdens and a haunting sense of hopelessness, he shared with me that he often thinks of giving up on his own medical care and chemotherapy. But he suffers in silence.Flip is a quiet and humble Black man in his 40’s, with a greying beard and fatherly disposition. I initially heard about his condition from other prisoners who hold him in high regard, and sought him out to offer what help I could to bring attention to his situation. The fact that I offered to help generate support for his compassionate release nearly brought him to tears. Flip not only appreciates every bit of support he can get, but is more than deserving of it and of his immediate release to live out his final days with his loved ones who also need him there with them.Flip has served 15 years in prison and has 20 years remaining to complete his sentence on a robbery conviction. His terminal cancer renders his sentence a death sentence, and an agonizing one. Aside from the reality that there is no justice for Black men, who are disproportionately targeted for mass imprisonment in Amerika, there is no compassion for those who suffer agonizing terminal illnesses like Flip Joyner. We must call and count on the public to compel the system to give what justice and compassion we can wring from it.Dare to Struggle Dare to Win!All Power to the People!Join the call-in, e-mail, and letter-writing campaign for the compassionate release of Shawn “Flip” Joyner. Contact the Governor of VA at:Gov. Glenn YoungkinGovernor OfficeP.O. Box 1475Richmond, VA 23218Telephone: 804-786-2211Email: socmail@governor.virginia.gov
Flip’s family also has a online petition at: https://www.change.org/p/virginia-department-of-corrections-get-my-father-out-of-prison-only-has-8-months-to-live
Shawn also has a pending petition for executive clemency. We encourage people to also contact the following number and email address to lend support to this effort as well:Telephone: (804)692-2542Email: pardons@governor.virginia.comPhone: (804)692-2542
Skip to content
Sign Up
Sign Up
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
https://conta.cc/4ayDxlB](https://www.prisonradio.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)