Addressing human and civil rights abuses in Virginia’s prisons, jails, and mental health institutions.

The Virginia Institutionalized Persons (VIP) Project was created in 2007 and is staffed in our Charlottesville office.  Our mission has been to learn about the conditions in Virginia’s prisons, jails and mental health institutions while working on those issues that are most inconsistent with constitutional standards and human dignity.

The VIP Project’s limited resources mean that we cannot represent individual inmates.  We are currently focused on two issues: a class action about the parole system for the “old law” inmates in Virginia.  The inmates lost in the federal District Court in Richmond and have appealed.  The suit is now before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.  Read more about the parole case here. 

The second issue is the lack of quality health services provided in one of the adult prisons. More information will be provided as it becomes available.  As part of our efforts to educate the public about Virginia’s prisons, in October, 2009, we presented Incarceration Nation at the Paramount Theatre in Charlottesville which featured Master of Ceremonies, John Grisham, moderating an informative panel discussion on the state of conditions in Virginia’s prisons.