Introduction

After weeks of intense negotiations with the Office of the Attorney General, the ACLU of Virginia and Charlottesville attorney Elliott Harding reached a settlement agreement with Gov. Ralph Northam, Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran and other state officials. The settlement was in response to a lawsuit initially brought on April 8 by Harding on behalf of 27 people who are incarcerated in Virginia prisons. The lawsuit alleged that Virginia is violating the U.S. Constitution by failing to release medically vulnerable people in state prisons due to the COVID-19 pandemic and by failing to keep people safe from exposure to the novel coronavirus.

As part of the court-enforced settlement agreement, the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) is required to provide the ACLU of Virginia with weekly data reports, including the number of individuals in VDOC facilities who have been:

  • Considered for early release;
  • Granted early release;
  • Denied early release; and
  • Tested for COVID-19 in each prison facility.

VDOC may be required to provide additional data, such as the number of conditional pardons granted, and requested documents like policies and directives.

This page will be updated each week with new data reports as soon as it is available from the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Weekly Updates from the Virginia Department of Corrections

For the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in VDOC's facilities across the Commonwealth, please visit its website for daily updates.

 

Number of people tested for COVID-19

Number of people reviewed for early release

 Number of people approved for early release

Number of
people granted
early release
from VADOC facilities
(Source: VADOC)

Number of people denied early release

 Number of people vaccinated Number of staff vaccinated
Before ACLU-VA Settlement Agreement on 5/12 5,455 322 256 65 45 N/A N/A

Week of 5/10-5/16    

 1,525 100 84 84 16 N/A N/A

Week of 5/17-5/23   

 4,218 111 95 31 16 N/A N/A
Week of 5/24-5/30 2,700 49 40 28 9 N/A N/A
Week of 5/31-6/6 4,067 100 71 37 29 N/A N/A
Week of 6/7-6/13 1,852 50 41 26 9 N/A N/A
Week of 6/14-6/20 679 27 24 15 3 N/A N/A
Week of 6/21-6/27 515 36 26 15 10 N/A N/A
Week of 6/27-7/4 1,848 30 20 24 10 N/A N/A
Week of 7/5-7/11 958 52 43 19 9 N/A N/A
Week of 7/12-7/18 1,182 60 42 16 18 N/A N/A
Week of 7/19-7/25 977 63 36 22 27 N/A N/A
Week of 7/26-8/1 1,132 62 36 23 26 N/A N/A
Week of 8/2-8/8 1,284 65 38 22 27 N/A N/A
Week of 8/9-8/15 1,363 65 38 25 27 N/A N/A
Week of 8/16-8/22 391 63 41 19 22 N/A N/A
Week of 8/23-8/29 2,004 68 37 19 31 N/A N/A
Week of 8/30-9/5 2,004 68 37 16 31 N/A N/A
Week of 9/6-9/12 492 62 39 18 23 N/A N/A
Week of 9/13-9/19 665 60 31 45 29 N/A N/A
Week of 9/20-9/26 674 68 49 13 19 N/A N/A
Week of 9/27-10/3 591 63 31 26 32 N/A N/A
Week of 10/4-10/10 2,749 63 42 16 21 N/A N/A
Week of 10/11-10/17 195 62 54 24 8 N/A N/A
Week of 10/18-10/24 2,289 60 54 13 6 N/A N/A
Week of 10/25-10/31 1,415 64 51 19 13 N/A N/A
Week of 11/1-11/7 1,465 64 52 6 12 N/A N/A
Week of 11/8-11/14 3,632 65 54 29 11 N/A N/A
Week of 11/15-11/21 2,188 60 45 32 15 N/A N/A
Week of 11/22/11-28 1,154 65 61 23 4 N/A N/A
Week of 11/29-12/5 4,105 63 47 17 17 N/A N/A
Week of 12/6-12/12 7,461 72 57 27 15 N/A N/A
Week of 12/13-12/19 3,696 68 49 28 19 N/A N/A
Week of 12/20-12/26 2,063 70 30 29 40 N/A N/A
Week of 12/27-1/2/2021 2,260 65 36 20 29 N/A N/A
Week of 1/3-1/9 4,126 66 32 14 34    
Week of 1/10-1/16 2,145 60 53 29 7 648 1,177
Week of 1/17-1/23 1,149 63 45 20 18 2,511 1,485
Week of 1/24-1/30 1,797 63 49 30 14 6, 143 1,730
Week of 1/31-2/6 3,724 60 23 17 37 2,077 278
Week of 2/7-2/13 2,294 69 46 40 23 2,115 -
Week of 2/14-2/20 1,194 61 32 7 29 127 -
Week of 2/21-2/27 1,878 67 33 27 34 1,075 174
Week of 2/28-3/6 1,315 63 52 42 11 626 462
Week of 3/7-3/13 3,189 61 48 28 13 415 270
Week of 3/14-3/20 1,555 67 52 57 15 456 163
Week of 3/21-3/27 964 62 41 19 21 295 66
Week of 3/28-4/3 944 60 48 20 12 259  
(to be continued)              

Total*

 97,522 3,277 2,316** 1,151 943 16,747 6,582

* The total numbers include cases before the settlement agreement on 5/12/2020.

**An additional 19 people have been substantively reviewed, but physically released from custody for other reasons prior to a final approval decision having been made. VDOC does not include those 19 people in the reported number of inmates who were approved for release, but does include those 19 people in the number of people who were substantively reviewed.

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