Richard’s Story: story that should never have happened.

It began with a lie. Richard, a Black man on lifetime parole, discovered his then girlfriend was abusing illicit substances and was lying about her age and her past, including sexual promiscuity. He decided he no longer wanted to be with her and was actively pursuing a relationship with his son’s mother, who he is now married to. Upset and unsure of what to do as his then girlfriend began pushing him in his face, he called the police himself for help in Rome, New York. His then girlfriend, who is white, spun a story that he had come at her waving a gun and had her daughter help fabricate these lies. Because of the racial dynamics, law enforcement believed them instantly. They failed to even take Richard’s statement and did not listen to him when he stated he is the one who called the police for help.

Two weeks later she was caught texting someone that the entire accusation was a lie and her daughter has told several people that they made it all up on purpose and thought it was funny, bragging that they got him “locked up”.

Rome City Court dropped all of the charges against Richard, yet parole didn’t care. They never removed the violation from his record, even though the criminal charges were dismissed. Richard was sent back to prison anyway sentenced to five years for a parole violation that should never have existed. As his wife and sister now describe it, he is doing time on an illegal charge and had many of his civil rights violated.

That was only the beginning. Within his first couple of months inside prison in October 2023, around 2am, three inmates walked past a corrections officer that was on duty, went into Richard’s cubical area while he was asleep and cut him in the back of his head, which required outside medical attention. 

Richard fought back to survive. He managed to trap the men inside the cell with him and defended himself until officers intervened. He was transported to the local hospital, by then unconscious, where he received multiple staples to his head.

He was not moved to a safer facility. He stayed right there. Two years later, still in Mohawk Correctional Facility, it happened again and even worse.

On October 18th, Richard was approached by corrections officer, Sgt. Thompson. She was trying to get Richard to do some unsavory and unlawful acts. When Richard refused, she moved him into a gang infested dorm, knowing that he was antigang. Within an hour of moving him into this dorm, an inmate attacked him with a heavy metal chair. Though Richard defended himself against the attack, it didn’t stop there. They moved him yet again into another gang infested dorm.

On October 20th at around 1:45am, again during a period when no one was allowed to be out of their respective cubes, an inmate entered Richard’s cubical and threw scolding baby oil on Richard, setting him on fire in his sleep. They also used squeegees to peel his burning flesh off him. Someone had to of known this attack was going to take place as the correction’s officer on duty that night was “sleeping” when this took place and had turned off his body camera. This allowed the inmates to move across the dorm into Richard’s cubical area undetected. 

His entire left side, from his face to his feet, sustained second and third degree burns. He also had multiple cuts and gashes on his head and upper body. He was transported to Upstate hospital in Syracuse to the burn unit, then brought back to Mohawk Correctional facility temporarily until being moved hours later to MidState Correctional facility, where he was placed into the infirmary for several weeks. While Richard was being transferred from Mohawk to MidState, CO’s and other inmates took all his personal property, food, clothing, hygiene items and trashed what they didn’t want. 

Both Mohawk Correctional and Upstate hospital took pictures of his injuries due to the severity of them. 

And then the neglect began. Richard has received almost no medical treatment since being set on fire. Instead of proper wound care, they handed him paper towels to clean his raw burned skin. He was told he had an appointment scheduled in one week to return to Upstate hospital burn unit, but he has still not been transported to be seen for his follow up medical care. It seems as if corrections was able to override the medical staff. 

He spent two weeks in the infirmary and instead of keep him under medical supervision they placed him in general population at Midstate where he was initially transferred to back on October 20. 

As of today, he still hasn’t seen a doctor from the burn unit or had any follow up treatment. His burns continue to go untreated. So now his sister and wife are fighting for him and are desperate for help. Jalisa and Karen have tried getting him attorneys, however, everyone that they call want large sums of money before they will even agree to meet with Richard to discuss his case. Even though Richard kept every piece of paperwork, they have not been able to find anyone willing to take on the systemic abuse he is facing. 

What Richard needs right now is simple:

• A lawyer willing to take the case

• Immediate medical treatment and follow up care

• Accountability for what happened

• Recognition that the parole violation was illegal to begin with

• Release from prison to prevent any further mistreatment and assaults against him

• Assistance with his civil rights violations

This is a man who was sent back to prison because of a lie and while inside, he was cut, set on fire, denied treatment and left to suffer.

His name is Richard Washington. And his life is at risk.