Before being incarcerated at the Red Onion State Prison, June of this year, he was at the Wallens Ridge State Prison. December of 2023, he was in an altercation with another inmate. By the time the CO’s or the deputies, or whatever, could get to the distress call, Ekong and the other gentleman was laying flat down on their stomachs. So it was no need for them to be aggressive or anything of that nature, or use a dog of that nature.
But when it came to Ekong, they were very aggressive. They even put the dog on him, and he has a wound that was never treated medically, far as – it was in house, not out house – back at the hospital, but it needed to be treated at the hospital. He has puncture wounds from the dog being put on him, and they were being aggressive with him. So with that being said, all of those things happened at Wallens Ridge, and that’s something that we wanted to address too, was the Wallens Ridge thing. He has since been moved to Red Onion. Ekong has been at Red Onion for a short period of time. Like I said, June of 2024 he got there.
They have accused him of taking his player and taking a screw out. Ekong is not a saint. He’s not a bad person either, but he’s definitely not a saint. But if he does something, he will tell you he did it. If he tell you he didn’t do it, Ekong did not do it. He assured the deputies that he did not take any screws out. Also, prior to him being accused by investigator Collins, or officer Collins, another deputy had already signed off that Ekong’s player was fine. Well, they took Ekong’s player from him, and that cut off all this communication with us. Ekong went on a hunger strike, and they were marking it that he was getting the trays, and Ekong was not getting the trays. And this all happened, like I said, a short period of time of him being at the Red Onion State Prison.
Within that time, Ekong was like, “Well, they’re not doing anything, they took my player from me, they took my TV away from me, they can’t find my property, this, that and other.” So, Ekong, along with ten other inmates, took it upon themselves: How, I don’t know, but they set themselves on fire. Ekong needed medical treatment to the point that he had to have emergency surgery, but the Red Onion State Prison staff let Ekong sit in medical and they just treat it as just a ‘little burn wound’, for three days in September of 2024. And, he had an emergency surgery, September 18th of 2024 at VCU in Richmond, Virginia, a seven hour drive from Pound, Virginia to Richmond, Virginia. He sat in excruciating pain. They just treated like it was nothing. Whatever cream they were applying was causing Ekong’s wound to be worse than what it was, which it was bad, but it was getting worser from the cream. And they’re not putting the right gauze or dressings or whatever, is a special kind of thing for burn wounds. They didn’t have that.
So we got the call that Ekong was in the hospital. They deprived us of seeing Ekong, deprived Ekong of calling on the phone to talk to us, while he was in the hospital. And we also got a call from the hospital that Ekong was in emergency surgery and his body went into some kind of thing that he couldn’t use the bathroom, so they had to cath him. They cathed him then, you know, they he got out of surgery, whatever, some days later, he was able to use the bathroom. Thank you, Jesus. But it just scares me that they’re able to go to this point to set themselves on fire, and it’s nothing is being done, nothing is being done about it.
Now it’s to the point that we have a Major Hall, that has threatened Ekong’s life and Ekong is fearing for his life, to the point that he’s very fearful that they’re going to do something to him. They’re doing – spitting in his food. They’re messing with his medications that he’s been on, medications for some years now, and he never had any problem of hallucinating or messing with his private parts. Whatever kind of medicine, I don’t know if they’re poisoning my son, but I want them to do a blood test, make sure that he’s not poisoned or anything, because my son is not making this stuff up.
And we spoke to a warden Anderson; my daughter and I spoke to a warden Anderson, which was – today is Thursday – it would have been Tuesday, the 22nd of October of 2024. And he assured me, after me sharing my concerns and my daughter sharing our concerns, that he was going to talk with Ekong and speak to Ekong about what was going on, because he said he wasn’t familiar with my son. I also have a Ms. Gay Garner. I didn’t know, unbeknownst to me, until I got off the phone with Mr. Anderson, Warden Anderson, that she had spoke to Warden Anderson also, and he shared the same thing with her that he was going to talk to Ekong. Well, here we are today, on the 24th of October of 2024 and Warden Anderson has not been in any contact with my son Ekong, but he did get moved out of medical after they isolated him on Monday, which was the 21st they isolated him – of 2024.
They isolated him from the other inmates, saying that he was in the hole and that he was causing the other inmates to go on a hunger strike, because Ekong is now on a hunger strike again for the second time while being at the Red Onion for a short period of time. And they moved Ekong to some kind of medical and isolated him from the whole prison. They put him in a cell where he’s a Muslim. He prays five times a day. But he had a problem. He didn’t have a problem with the toilet because he somehow, he said he could cover the toilet up, but the shower, it was no shower curtain or any way to cover the shower. So he could not pray, he could not call Allah’s name in the cell or anything like that. So he was deprived of that for three days.
Well, they moved him, finally, like I said, after we talked to Warden Anderson, but Warden Anderson still hasn’t made any contact with him. This morning, which is October 24th, he had a officer, Jay Mullens, that went into his cell with another deputy. The other deputy searched Ekong outside of the cell before they take him, they said, because he’s on a hunger strike. They was taking him to medical or whatever. Now, because he’s on a hunger strike for so many days, they gotta search his cell every time they take him out the cell, or, because he’s on a hunger strike?
So, Mullens went into the cell. The other deputy stayed out and was searching Ekong. Mullins went in and was aggressively throwing Ekong’s belongs around in the cell and threw his Quran on the floor. That is the utmost disrespect to his religion and to the Black community. It really is, ma’am. So, it’s so much more that I want to say, and maybe my daughter can add more, but that’s kind of like the highlight of it. And for him to be in fear of his life, and them spitting in his food, messing with his food, messing with his medications. I’ve even begged Warden Anderson to have my son removed from the Red Onion State Prison. That was my last word to him. I had said it numerous of times through the conversation. The last thing that I said to him is, “Please, can you have my son removed from the Red Onion?” And he said, “Well, I can’t make you any promises, but ‘imma do what I can to make this happen.” Those were his words to me. So I don’t know, you want to add something?
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio