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I am opposed to all of these unconstitutional and anit-american gun laws and regulations. There is no room for more gun laws and regulations in this state.

Please stop trying to make criminals of law abiding citizens who just want to protect themselves. Me and my partner have recently become firearm owners because of situations that have arisen in our day to day lives, such as harassment of my wife almost to the point of altercation, sketchy characters waiting in front of our door/ducking in and out of our bushes at all times of the night, people breaking into cars in the neighborhood etc (many times the police/security were called only to arrive 45mins to an hour later). with many of these nonsensical bills you condemn us to allowing any possible violence to happen to us without a chance of defending our selves. Instead of helping fix the problem, you seek to make criminals out of any Virginian who has followed the law and legal purchased a firearm. Shame on you. I am Virginian native and since I was 18 I voted leaning blue in local and state elections you all are making me think this was a mistake. I am not proud of Virginia “progressives” who would rather strip my wife of her chance and right to defend her self rather than try to address the root of crime. Don’t make law abiding people criminals. Do some actual work and address the criminals! 2 of the proposed bills would make in illegal to bring your concealed firearm into a restaurant and another makes it a crime to have the firearm in your vehicle…. Like really? This is literally just to fill jails and strip people of their rights.

Many of these gun laws are unfair to law abiding citizens and do not affect criminals. These gun laws should be vetoed.

As a fellow Democrat, it’s important to acknowledge the complexities surrounding gun ownership and the Second Amendment. 1. Self-Defense: Firearms can be a crucial tool for individuals to protect themselves, especially in high-crime areas or situations where law enforcement response times are slow. 2. Sport and Recreation: Many Americans enjoy shooting sports like hunting, skeet shooting, and target practice as a recreational activity, fostering a sense of community and skill-building. 3. Cultural Tradition: Gun ownership is deeply ingrained in American culture, with a rich history of hunting and marksmanship passed down through generations. 4. Economic Impact: The firearms industry contributes significantly to the economy, generating jobs and revenue through manufacturing, sales, and related services. 5. Civil Liberties: Upholding the right to bear arms is fundamental to preserving individual freedoms and safeguarding against government overreach. 6. Empowerment of Marginalized Communities: For historically marginalized groups, owning firearms can serve as a means of empowerment and protection against hate crimes or discriminatory violence. 7. Emergency Preparedness: In times of natural disasters or civil unrest, responsible gun owners can help maintain order and protect their families and communities. 8. Deterrence of Crime: Research suggests that the presence of armed civilians can deter potential criminals and reduce overall crime rates in certain contexts. 9. Veterans and Law Enforcement: Many veterans and law enforcement officers transition to civilian life with a continued appreciation for firearms, utilizing their expertise for civilian defense and security. 10. Balanced Approach: Instead of blanket gun control measures, we can advocate for comprehensive solutions that address root causes of violence, such as mental health support, poverty reduction, and community intervention programs.

I oppose this legislation.

I oppose all these unconstitutional, dangerous, and pointless laws.

My name is Sabrina Stokes wife of Monte Stokes housed in keen mountain and currently wrongfully housed in RHU! I support the HB1244 solitary confinement needs to end ! Thank you

Good day Honorable House Committee Chair, the Honorable Delegate members, and staff, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of LatinoJustice PRLDEF and the thousands of people currently suffering extreme isolation called "Restorative Housing," who will benefit from the passing of this bill. My name is Steven Mangual, Justice Advocate Coordinator, at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Southeast Region. LatinoJustice PRLDEF is a national Latinx-led Civil Rights organization that for 51 years has been using litigation, community education workshops, and legislative advocacy to defend and empower the Latinx and other communities of color. LatinoJustice has a long history of pro-active participation in the legislative processes at regional and other southeast regional states and commonwealths, like Virginia in our national efforts and I am here today to support House Bill 1244. On any given day, the Commonwealth of Virginia has over 7,000* people held in some form of extreme isolation, locked-in for 23/24 hours a day with no human contact, no attention to their mental health needs, medical care, vocation/education needs, rehabilitative, nor transitional planning. Currently there are men on hunger strike at Red Onion Prison in response to the horrible conditions of your "restorative housing." People placed in solitary, report hallucinations, insomnia, self-mutilation, incoherent thoughts and speech, suicidal ideations, and post-traumatic stress disorder. ** Imagine those with preexisting mental illness? I testify as an advocate against solitary, working for a national Civil Rights organization, member of the Virginia Coalition on Solitary; I'm also part of a national campaign which includes the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), and Unlock the Box Campaign. I a also a solitary survivor with personal experience. I was incarcerated for 14 in New York including over six months in solitary confinement. Despite being released over 17 years ago, with a wonderful family and career, I still suffer the consequences of my "time" in solitary confinement; depression, insomnia, anxiety & panic attacks. SEVENTEEN years later. I ask for your support of this bill as a positive step towards ending solitary confinement beginning by providing immediate medical and mental health treatment, educational, rehabilitative, and transitional planning. We support HB 1244 Restorative Housing and Isolated Confinement in Virginia, and we urge the Honorable House Committee to vote YES to its passage. Thank you kindly.

We support HB1244! The continued use of solitary confinement has been clinically proven to cause severe and at times debilitating mental illness and even psychosis in it's use. Isolation can be psychologically harmful to any prisoner, with the nature and severity of the impact depending on the individual, the duration, and particular conditions (e.g., access to natural light, books, or radio). Psychological effects can include anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, obsessive thoughts, paranoia, and psychosis. If Virginia's goal is to truly rehabilitate those in its care during incarceration we MUST stop this practice and engage in other means of proactive & humane treatment of misconduct.

As people of faith, we oppose torture as a violation of our intrinsic respect for humanity and the God-given value we see in every person created in the image of God. Solitary confinement is a dehumanizing and expensive practice that is at odds with the goal of rehabilitation or the facilitation of social reintegration, and it does not increase the safety in our prisons. Whether it is called “restrictive” or “rehabilitative” housing, it is still the same practice, and extended use of solitary confinement is torture. It should be prohibited except in rare and well-defined circumstances — such as when a prisoner poses a real and imminent threat of physical harm — and only for as little time as absolutely necessary. Legislation passed last year was a first step towards eliminating this practice, but it did not go far enough. We call on the Virginia General Assembly to support passage of HB1244.

I support this bill! Medical research shows that the denial of meaningful human contact can cause ‘isolation syndrome’, the symptoms of which include anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, paranoia, psychosis, self-harm and suicide. Prolonged isolation can destroy a person’s personality and their mental health and its effects may last long after the end of the period of segregation. If our corrections system is rehabilitating people to one day re-enter society, why are we using methods that can cause greater harm to their mental abilities? This country has a huge mental health issue that we are barely able to address, this practice ONLY adds to the plight!

Honorable Members of the House Public Safety - Public Safety Committee Chair: Rasoul, Chairman My name is Lillie Branch-Kennedy, Founder of the Virginia based nonprofit Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged and the Disenfranchised (RIHD, INC) assisting people directly impacted, families and communities affected by Virginia's criminal legal system with restorative practices. Our goal for is for a safer and equitable society. On behalf of our 4,000 membership we supports bill HB 1244 introduced by Delegate Joshua G. Cole Restorative housing and isolated confinement; restrictions on its use. Sincerely, Lillie Branch-Kennedy Founder Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged and Disenfranchised RIHD, INC. 1720 Mechanicsville Turnpike Richmond, Virginia 23223 Tel: (804) 426-4426 Email: lillie@rihd.org Website: www.rihd.org

My husband spent over 2 years in solitary confinement at the young age of 22. He suffered immense bouts of depression and even psychosis. While we understand the punitive nature of imprisonment we also as American people recognize the need for balance and correction. This practice is cruel and unusual by often times permanently damaging the brain. Let's do away with archaic methods of torture and make room to research healthier way to reform criminal behavior. Thank you for listening.

As the Director of Virginia Justice Alliance, we strongly support this bill. This use of long-term isolation by any name is torture and has no place in our society. I have worked with many clients who have served time in VADOC Seg units and have seen the first-hand effects of this practice. I also have a loved one who was subjected to long-term segregation and had to watch him struggle and fail to come back into society. He now struggles with mental health issues and substance abuse due to his time in seg.

I am a member of Accotink Unitarian-Universalist Church and I support this bill. While progress was made last year with a law requiring 4 hours of out-of-cell time, this bill further restricts the use of solitary confinements, requires alternative actions and better monitoring of a practice that needs to be abolished.

I am a member of the Valley Justice Coalition and I support HB 1244. Thank you Karen Chamblee

Isolation is known to make our prisons less safe by exacerbating mental health problems, problems that lead to preventable violence. Our over-reliance on solitary confinement hinders our ability to adopt best practices used by other states and countries that no longer sanction isolation as a short term answer, but instead are investing in solutions that make our prisons and communities safer. I do not want my tax dollars to be supporting a practice that is cruel and inhumane; therefore, I encourage you to vote for safer prisons and communities by supporting HB1244.

Isolation is known to make our prisons less safe by exacerbating mental health problems, problems that lead to preventable violence. Our over-reliance on solitary confinement hinders our ability to adopt best practices used by other states and countries that no longer sanction isolation as a short term answer, but instead are investing in solutions that make our prisons and communities safer. I do not want my tax dollars to be supporting a practice that cruel and inhumane; therefore, I encourage you to vote for safer prisons and communities by supporting HB1244.

Last year Virginia took a step in the right direction with putting into law that people in isolation receive a minimum of 4 hours out of cell time. However that truly is not enough. People are suffering in our prisons while locked in for months and yers. it is inhumane and needs to end. Virginia needs to pass HB1244 and end long term confinement in the common wealth.

Isolated confinement (called Restorative Housing by the DOC) is an old practice that has a damaging effect on prisoners, especially those with mental issues. Many states have figured out how keep order without using long periods of isolation. It's time Virginia learned how, too. Almost all these prisoners will be released someday, and they are more likely to recommit crimes or be incapable of supporting themselves if their mental capacity is damaged. Please support HB 1244 to limit this damage.

As a military veteran and long time resident of Virginia, I fully support HB1244 and urge it passage. We have one of the worst records on solitary confinement and it needs to stop. Ed Kringer.

Solitary confinement is torture by another name! Please support HB 1244 that is a small step in the right direction of limiting this barbaric practice.

I support this bill, and call on the General Assembly to pass these limits. Solitary confinement is a dehumanizing and expensive practice that is at odds with the goal of rehabilitation, and it does not increase safety in our prisons. According to the United Nations, keeping someone in solitary confinement for more than 15 days is torture. It violates basic human rights, and the practice should be prohibited, except in extreme circumstances where the prisoner poses a real an imminent threat of physical harm, and for as little time as necessary.

I am a member of Virginia Moms for Change, a gun violence prevention group, and I support this bill.

Vote YES on HB 1244!!! We need to STOP the use of solitary confinement, it is unsanitary, it makes people’s mental status suffer, sometimes causing suicide. People need interaction with others. If you just stop and put yourself in a closet for say 30minutes shut the door no lights NOW just imagine what these men and women are feeling and thinking for days on end . Lets end the use of solitary confinement (basically torture)

The introduction of HB 1244 legislation in Virginia is a significant step towards reforming the use of solitary confinement in state correctional facilities. HB 1244 aims to prohibit isolated confinement, with certain exceptions, and provides much-needed transparency for this form of torture. It is crucial to prioritize incarcerated individual's well-being and mental health, and this legislation is a positive stride in that direction. Virginia studied solitary confinement in 2022; we must stop studying blatant torture and do something.

My loved one was stabbed due to staff negligence and then was placed in segregation for his own protection where for four months he sat being punished for something he didn’t do. He already has mental health issues and while sitting in segregation it only got worse. Mental health came to see him one time after the stabbing back there. I had to continuously reach out before they finally came to see him again. We all know that being locked in a cell 23 hours a day already has a severe impact on their mental health but for someone who already has mental health issues that only makes it worse. These men and women are still human and deserve to be treated like humans. Again, for four months my loved one sat in segregation due to staff negligence which allowed him to get stabbed when he was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing at the time.

My Loved One incarcerated at Keen Mountain was in solitary confinement for 10 days straight. He only had a mattress and a sink. When he went number two he wasnt given toilet paper to wipe himself and had to use the clothes he was wearing. Even when he ate he was unable to wash the defecation off of his hands. I'm in support of Delegate Cole's Bill.

This practice is so detrimental to the well-being of all people. It has been studied and confirmed to cause more harm than good and it is well past time to discontinue. We need oversight of the jails and prisons to assure it stops.

This practice is so detrimental to the well-being of all people. It has been studied and confirmed to cause more harm than good and it is well past time to discontinue. We need oversight of the jails and prisons to assure it stops.

As people of faith, we oppose torture as a violation of our intrinsic respect for humanity and the God-given value we see in every person created in the image of God. Solitary confinement – by whatever name it is called - is torture. It should be prohibited except in rare circumstances — such as when a prisoner poses a real and imminent threat of physical harm — and only for as little time as absolutely necessary. We call on the Virginia General Assembly to limit the use of solitary confinement in Virginia’s prisons and jails and we support passage of HB1244.

Solitary confinement, a practice shrouded in shadows, demands immediate and definitive reform. Confining individuals to barren cells for 22 hours a day, starved of human connection, inflicts psychological wounds far deeper than any concrete walls. The mounting evidence of its devastating effects - from hallucinations and self-harm to irreversible brain changes - While proponents cite security and order, can we truly claim a system "just" when it breaks minds instead of reforming them? The alternative, restorative justice, beckons. Engaging prisoners in meaningful programs, fostering human connections, and prioritizing rehabilitation over isolation offer a path towards genuine societal safety. Let us not be remembered for the darkness we inflicted, but for the light we dared to embrace, ending the inhumane practice of solitary confinement and choosing a future where every life, regardless of past transgressions, holds the potential for redemption and healing.

I support HB 1244. I currently have a loved one serving in solitary confinement.

I support HB1244. The UN states that solitary confinement shall be used very rarely and for as short a term as possible. Nelson Mandela rules protect the individual and respect their human dignity. Meanwhile, Penal Reform International (n.d.) shared that 80-100 thousand US prisoners at any one time are held in isolation. Being deprived of human contact is torture, increases anxiety and fear which predisposes those men, women, and children to chronic diseases and early death. "Medical research shows that the denial of meaningful human contact can cause ‘isolation syndrome’, the symptoms of which include anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, paranoia, psychosis, self-harm and suicide. Prolonged isolation can destroy a person’s personality and their mental health and its effects may last long after the end of the period of segregation."-Penal Reform International. Many international rules prohibit the use of solitary confinement for juveniles and pregnant women and should not be used for prisoners on death row or those serving life sentences. If you are only interested in the financial side rather than the human side, solitary confinement costs $78,000 per person isolated (NPR,2014). That is three times the cost of a person in regular imprisonment. I urge the committee to support HB 1244 and end the use of solitary confinement in Virginia for men, women, and children. There are examples in the USA of prisons using a trauma-informed care approach to treat individuals with respect and enhance safety in the correctional facilities for everyone living and working there. Let's lead the way in the right thing to do.

The end of solitary confinement must be done My son was murdered in solitary confinement at Red Onion Prison in Pound Va on 1/3/22.

I support HB1244! Considering all the research this country has conducted on the effects of solitary confinement, I'm amazed that we are even having this discussion in such an astute, highly educated, "morally" based country such as ours. One would only need to communicate with a child or grown-up who has endured such harsh treatment, and you would clearly see the damage it caused them. Better yet, there are numerous documentaries on Netflix and many other websites, that clearly expose the horrific conditions that men, women, and children are subjected to that would make your head spin. Why are we even having this discussion? Because our intelligent society has lost its touch and can't seem to understand the basic needs of a human, but we cry over a wet dog left in the cold. If you don't think these conditions exist in VA Dept. of Corrections, I would like to challenge the most intelligent to subject themselves to a thirty day experiment and share with the public how you maintained your sanity. It is past time for this to end! Not only does it cause severe depression, anxiety and health issues, but it definitely doesn't prepare ANYONE for society. We are spending too much in taxes for a system that is not only failing them, but it's also failing the citizens of Virginia. PASS THIS BILL!!!

Solitary confinement has been proven to do more harm than good. In fact, inmates locked away for an extended time are often more problematic than before they went in. There should be an ENFORCED maximum for all facilities

The United Nations has declared prolonged use of solitary confinement to be torture. The State of Virginia has tortured untold numbers of its citizens. This must change. Vote Yes for HB1244.

We support this Bill.

Vadoc claims to reform offenders. How does depriving someone of physical and social needs help teach someone the correct way of handling situations? The men and women incarcerated already feel isolated from losing their freedom. It is inhumane to Add on even more isolation . Studies show loneliness and social isolation increases anxiety, depression and suicide rates. The vadoc should not be increasing the rates of mental illness which will increase the risk of recidivism for those entering back into society and even for those who are not. Not only does this increase risk of depression and anxiety, the cdc reports there is a 32% increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Hopkinsmedicine.org reports “One possible explanation is that having fewer opportunities to socialize with others decreases cognitive engagement as well, potentially contributing to increased risk of dementia.“ as social isolation increases the risk of dementia by 27%. To punish someone while they are already being punished by having their rights and freedom taken already is wrong. No person should be treated like this. It appears Livestock has more protection by the law than our incarcerated friends, family and neighbors.

We strongly support ending this kind of cruel and unusual punishment.

My father was in solitary confinement for something the prison said he did that he did not, for 13 months straight. It is inhumane and has proven, in countless studies, to cause irreparable damage to the brain! This should be considered cruel and unusual punishment because it is! Please ban solitary confinement now! If the point of prison is to rehabilitate prisoners… how can we sit idly by while a common practice in said prisons directly counteracts that purpose? Anyone is capable of making a mistake, if it were your father would you want them to be treated in such a deplorable manner? We too often forget that just because incarcerated persons are criminals that they aren’t also people. They are, and they should have a right to not be harmed while in VADOCs care. Thank you for your time.

I support these Bills!

My husband has been in solitary confinement for 25 days at Red Onion State Prison. He has not had a disciplinary hearing for what they are accusing him of. Mental health nor medical have been back to check on him and he has health issues. They have not been giving him his little bit of commissary that he is able to order. They are allowing showers twice a week only. He has no access to mail his family including his child since they have not delivered his stamps he ordered. He has only been given the phone two times in these 25 days. He has not received any time out of cell expect when they handcuff and shackle him to assist him to the shower twice a week. This is the same facility where there is an active hunger strike taking place for this facility not following HOUSE BILL NO. 2487; 53.1-39.2, relating to correctional facilities; use of solitary confinement and restrictive housing. Signed into state law by Governor Youngkin; effective 7/1/2023. Solitary confinement also impacts families and children. We miss our family member and we need to hear from him. Especially his young child. The sad reality is there are individuals placed in long-term segregation at Red Onion State Prison who have been in there for several years. Research shows the serious detrimental effects of spending 22 to 24 hours per day alone and idle in a cell, and numerous studies have found that solitary has a disproportionate impact on Black and brown people. Solitary confinement is a public health issue. People placed in solitary can develop serious, long-lasting health problems, which may increase their risk for further health complications and even premature death. Please support HB1244 by Delegate Hope. As Virginians need to put a stop to this torturous inhumane practice.

It is long past time to end the practice of solitary confinement aka RHU, Step-Down, administrative segregation. Whatever VADOC chooses to call it, solitary confinement is torture. Period. We should not support these practices and the irreversible physical and psychological harm that they cause not just for those behind bars but for their loved ones as well. This is trauma and we can end it. Pass HB1244.