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A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 5 July 2022
Virginia law stops early inmate releases, angering families

Associated Press ment, Republicans sug-
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — gested the law went further
Christopher Ford was a than initially intended in al-
baby when his father was lowing inmates with violent
sentenced to 28 years in convictions to reduce any
prison for participating in portion of their sentence,
a murder-for-hire scheme even for the separate, less-
that led to the killings of two er convictions.
people at a car dealership. "Because of the way this
After serving 25 years, was drafted, this is a loop-
prison officials told Robert hole we should close,"
Glenn Ford he would be re- said Republican Sen. Mark
leased in July under a 2020 Obenshain. He read from
Virginia law that allowed in- a list of the most serious of-
mates to shave more time fenses committed by the
off their sentences for good inmates among the first
behavior, his son said. batch of early releases,
But just before he was ex- and insisted that some of
pecting to go home, Virgin- those people would go on
ia lawmakers approved a to offend again.
budget amendment from "We're going to hear about
Republican Gov. Glenn it when one of these 41 rap-
Youngkin that excluded Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gestures as he speaks to Chari Baker, who confronted him at a ists commits another rape,"
Ford and thousands of restaurant, Wednesday June 22, 2022, in Woodbridge, Va. he said.
other inmates with vio- Associated Press Democratic Sen. Joe Mor-
lent offenses from receiv- rissey said everyone knew
ing the expanded earned panded credits. with good behavior and leases when it took effect. how the changes would
sentence credits, meaning Relatives and other ad- participation in rehabilita- Under the 2020 law, violent work when the law was
they would have to serve vocates for the affected tion programs to earn ex- offenses were not eligible passed and accused Re-
more time. inmates said the reversal panded credits for up to 15 for the expanded credit. publicans of playing poli-
"Using this back-door meth- cruelly upended reunion days per month to be tak- But if inmates had a com- tics with the issue.
od days before they were and homecoming plans, en off their sentences for bined sentence with both "I know what's coming
supposed to get out was, devastating families and nonviolent offenses. Before a violent conviction and a in November and Octo-
to me, hugely wrong," the inmates themselves. the law was approved, in- lower-tier one, they could ber, that Democrats let all
Christopher Ford said in an Republicans, who were mates could earn up to 4.5 potentially shave some these people out of prison.
interview. joined by a few Senate days per month. Very few time off the sentence they It's a great soundbite and
As lawmakers debated Democrats in approving inmates qualify for parole were given for the nonvio- a great commercial, but
the amendment, they dis- the amendment, made the in Virginia. lent offense. that's not what we're do-
cussed the approximately case that offenders who The 2020 law had a de- Multiple attempts to repeal ing," he said.
560 inmates who, like Rob- were convicted of violent layed effective date of July the law failed, but the last- Youngkin also character-
ert Ford, were set to be re- crimes shouldn't get a shot 1, 2022, so prison officials minute budget amend- ized the amendment as
leased in the first 60 days at reducing their time be- would have time to cal- ment from Youngkin was a simple fix when a group
of the program. But the im- hind bars. culate new release dates. approved by the General of women with affected
pact is far larger. A spokes- The law, passed in 2020 And the change in cred- Assembly on June 17. He relatives confronted him
man for the Department of when Democrats were in its applied retroactively, signed the budget bill days last week at a campaign-
Corrections confirmed that full control of state govern- meaning the Department later. style event in Woodbridge,
about 8,000 inmates will ment, created a tiered sys- of Corrections was prepar- During a debate in the state where he was touting the
now be ineligible for the ex- tem that allowed inmates ing for an initial surge of re- Senate over the amend- recently signed budget. q

Flamethrower used to torch Pan-

African flag flying on pole

thrower set fire Saturday man stopped when a work- and economic develop-
to a Pan-African flag fly- er inside the building yelled ment."
ing on a pole outside the at him. The video shows him Akile Anai, the group's di-
headquarters of the Uhuru putting the flamethrower rector of agitation and pro-
Movement, a Black inter- back in the trunk and then paganda, said the attack
national socialist group driving away. A photo sup- is in the same vein as the
based in Florida. plied by the group shows May killing of 10 Black peo-
Security video released the flag with a large hole. ple at a Buffalo, New York,
by the group shows the St. Petersburg police said supermarket. Police say the
driver of a white Honda they are investigating the arrested suspect in the Buf-
sedan pulling up outside fire and are working to falo massacre is a white na-
the group's St. Petersburg identify a suspect. tionalist.
In this photo provided by Burning Spear Media, LLC, a dam- headquarters, removing a The Uhuru Movement is Anai said such attacks are
aged Pan-African flag flies outside the headquarters of the Uh-
uru Movement, a Black international socialist group based in St. flamethrower from the trunk part of the African People's caused by the decline of a
Petersburg, Fla., Saturday, July 2, 2022. and shooting a tower of fire Socialist Party, which says it "social system and facade
Associated Press at the flag flying about 30 is "uniting African people as of normalcy based on op-
feet (9 meters) above the one people for liberation, pression, colonialism and
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A person using a flame- ground. The group says the social justice, self-reliance exploitation."q