It’s been about a year since Andrea Sapone was hired as the state’s first corrections ombudsman, monitoring the Virginia Department of Corrections. The office recently issued its first strategic plan — a two-page document sketching out both short- and long-term goals for the office.
“I don't have an impression. I haven't seen enough,” Kenneth Hunter said about the office’s work while sitting at a conference table in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood during late September.
Hunter, a formerly incarcerated advocate and activist, pointed out that the ombudsman’s office hasn’t yet been fully staffed, tamping down on its ability to conduct investigations at VADOC’s facilities across the state. The office is currently looking to hire one additional full-time and one part-time employee.
“I deal with people incarcerated in real time, so I know a lot of these issues firsthand that people are dealing with,” Hunter continued. “Until I'm able to see some tangible stuff about people taking an interest in some of the complaints that I hear about, then I won't know how to gauge it.”
The office’s strategic plan was posted Sept. 9th. It touches on building relationships with corrections staff, and covers topics like staffing, learning opportunities and “preventative oversight measures” — which in an email, Sapone described as monitoring systemic issues.
She also noted a positive working relationship with VADOC during her first year in the job.
Corrections director Chadwick Dotson did not respond to an interview request for this story.
“I think it's really important that the agencies are talking to each other, that there's an emphasis in the strategic plan on trying to develop those relationships and understand how each of them works and the respective responsibilities of different bodies,” said Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin. “So, all of that, I think, is good and it takes time.”
Deitch runs the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab, which has hosted conferences on issues like deaths in custody, and helms an online resource documenting prison oversight in states across the U.S.
She added that the ombudsman’s strategic plan aimed to establish enduring procedures, as well as to make sure the office can access the information it needs while acknowledging the limitations of its current staffing. By summer 2029, Sapone’s unit has a goal of maintaining 13 full-time employees — up from six — though funding for those roles hasn’t been secured.
In addition to the strategic plan, the corrections unit has posted six inspection reports since February, detailing site visits to various state-run prisons. The office said it selected the locations “based on availability and scheduling of OSIG staff.”
On a few occasions, Sapone has said she would prioritize investigating Red Onion State Prison, which received international attention in late 2024 after multiple incarcerated men committed acts of self-harm and set fires to protest their conditions. That initial batch of site reports didn’t include the maximum security facility.
Sapone wrote in an email that the office won’t comment “on pending or potentially pending investigations.”
Other facility investigations noted issues with food handling and the presence of mold at some prisons, and detailed the grievance process — the way incarcerated people lodge formal complaints. In some instances, reports said, filing those complaints included people handing paperwork directly to corrections staff.
Heather Schoenfeld, a Boston University sociology professor, said that arrangement might not allow some people to feel comfortable voicing concerns. “There are plenty of ways to make the process work without having to hand your form to a corrections officer,” she said.
Sapone is set to hold a public stakeholder meeting Oct. 2nd at the Patrick Henry Building in Richmond.
Read more at Red Onion Resources.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.