Randy answers listener David’s question about food in supermax, recalling the time when discontent about the quality and quantity of food led to a group protest.
Red Onion Randy features the life and times of Randall Via, who is currently serving 1,214 years in Red Onion State Prison for capital murder. Directed and produced by Michael Garbutt. Website and podcast design by Nishant Pandav. Sound editing and music by Julia Jooyeon Park. Title music by Joni Park and Julia Jooyeon Park.
In this episode, Randy answers listeners’ questions. Paula wants to know how other prisoners and corrections officers have reacted to the podcast. Dianna asks Randy about pen pal programs. He offers insider advice about the benefits and risks of corresponding with prisoners.
Red Onion Randy features the life and times of Randall Via, who is currently serving 1,214 years in Red Onion State Prison for capital murder. Directed and produced by Michael Garbutt. Website and podcast design by Nishant Pandav. Sound editing and music by Julia Jooyeon Park. Title music by Joni Park and Julia Jooyeon Park.
Randy answers listeners’ questions about the prison’s step down program and the psychological impact of solitary confinement.
After spending five years in administrative segregation — solitary confinement — Randy successfully completes Red Onion’s “step down” program, earning the right to move into the prison’s “general population” After a few months, however, despite following all rules and regulations, Randy is returned to solitary, where he’ll spend the next 13 years, until his release to general population at the end of 2019.
In his years in solitary confinement, Randy developed an extraordinary power – the ability to travel in time and space through the power of imagination. As he says, he may be in prison, but he’s not a prisoner. In this episode, Randy is our guide on an imaginary walk in the woods near his boyhood home in Earlysville, Virginia. Wherever you are and however you’re feeling right now, let Randy take you to a secret place of tranquillity and hope.
Randy recalls his discovery of the Wheel of Time series by fantasy fiction writer Robert Jordan and the life-changing epiphany he experienced while reading them.
Randy reports that inmates working in the kitchen have tested positive for Covid-19. For the moment, the outbreak appears to be under control. Since a new kitchen manager was appointed two months ago the quality and quantity of food has improved significantly.
After slashing the throat of another inmate in the rec yard at Sussex 1 State Prison Randy is sent to Red Onion State Prison, where he is kept in solitary confinement, also known as administrative segregation. In this powerful account of life in “seg”, Randy describes the devastating mental health impact of intense loneliness, hopelessness, and boredom, where 23 hours of every day is spent in a cell the size of a single car parking space, the light is never turned off, and constant noise assaults the ears.
Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of sexual assault and extreme physical violence.
When gang leader LA threatens to rape Randy, Randy reacts by slashing LA’s throat on the rec yard.
After being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the twenty-year-old Randy is sent to Buckingham Correctional Center, a state prison between Richmond and Lynchburg, Virginia. In this ruthless new world, any sign of weakness will be exploited by other inmates.