Month: January 2022

Most of us associate TikTok with teenagers doing goofy dances. Charlottesville native Jesse Crosson, though, is using the platform to talk about something far more meaningful—criminal justice reform. Over the past year, Virginia has passed major legislation, like abolishing the death penalty and legalizing marijuana. Crosson, who was released in 2021 after nearly two decades of incarceration, is among the activists and organizers advocating for more critical reforms in the Old Dominion.

In 2002, struggling with substance abuse, Crosson was convicted of robbery and unlawful wounding in Albemarle County. Just days after his 18th birthday, he was sentenced to 32 years in prison—twice the maximum of sentencing guidelines.

While recovering from substance abuse, Crosson had a radical shift in perspective.

“My transformation was from having a self-centered view of the world, to recognizing my connection with, obligation to, and the benefits I receive from others,” he says.

Throughout his years in prison, Crosson led a variety of programs, including GED tutoring, mental health support, and yoga. He also became a licensed electrician, and a mentor for other incarcerated men. After 15 years of studying, he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ohio University in 2018.

In 2019, Crosson decided to petition for clemency. To his surprise, he received an outpouring of support from friends and family, as well as the general public. He met with multiple state leaders about his fight for clemency, and did interviews with the media.

On August 16, 2021, Crosson got the news he had been waiting nearly two decades to hear: Governor Ralph Northam granted him a conditional pardon, based on the excessiveness of his sentence, his age at the time of the crime, and his accomplishments.

“I went to a knee and started sobbing. I just lost my mind,” he says. “It went from zero to you’re getting out of prison today.”

Adjusting to life as a free man has been “really amazing,” says Crosson. Though he’s had some “really stressful times and difficult things happen,” he’s received an overwhelming amount of support—not a given for people coming out of prison, he emphasizes.

“I was really fortunate to have a place to stay, be able to get a job, and have transportation,” he says. “This is not something people should use for like toxic positivity to say, ‘everybody else can just pull themselves up by their bootstraps’ because that’s bullshit.”

Shortly after his release, Crosson created a TikTok account, @second_chancer, to share his experiences in prison, as well as advocate for criminal justice reforms. The account has since gained more than 500,000 followers, and features videos of Crosson casually recalling stories about the people he met and his process readjusting to the outside world.

Incarcerated people should have “the tools they need to succeed,” including emotional regulation skills, job training, and technological literacy, he says. He also hopes to see more support for victims of crimes, and changes to sentencing laws.

“You’ll have guys who get a five-year sentence, who are far worse when they get finished with that sentence, and are guaranteed to reoffend,” he says. “[Then] you have guys who get 50 years who after 10 years…have really turned their life around and are ready to reenter society but don’t have that opportunity.”

He says he’s received a wide range of responses to his TikTok, including positive comments that have made him “question and look at myself… I’ve also had some amazing exchanges with victims of crimes that were similar to mine. We’ve talked about our experiences, and it’s been really powerful and healing for both of us.”

Last month, he worked with a public defender on TikTok to collect clothes, food, and other necessities for people recently released from prison.

“It’s really encouraging that there is a capacity for some kind of action with this—it’s not just people sitting behind their keyboards talking about things,” he says.

On social media, Crosson has also discussed his relationship with local journalist (and former C-VILLE editor) Courteney Stuart, who did a story about his fight for clemency for CBS19 in 2019. Stuart later came to Crosson for advice about a personal issue, and began talking with him on the phone regularly. They soon became close friends—and eventually fell in love.

“We developed this amazing relationship without ever having stepped foot in the same room together,” says Crosson. “It’s been the healthiest and most gratifying relationship of my life.”

With Stuart, Crosson started the Pri-Zen podcast, which discusses a variety of issues within the criminal justice system. He is also working on a book proposal, and networking with local and state leaders to “find a way forward.” Crosson says he would like to go to grad school to become a licensed counselor or psychologist, and has also considered starting a nonprofit that provides re-entry services.

From his advocacy work, Crosson ultimately hopes that people will learn to “humanize everyone” and recognize that people are not “irredeemable.”

“There’s a failure to understand that we are not simple, rational creatures,” he says. “The vast majority of crimes that I saw committed were committed…as a result of trauma and really difficult circumstances.”

In the dark

If your power went out during Monday’s snowstorm, you weren’t alone. The storm dumped as much as a foot of snow across central Virginia, and the Virginia Department of Transportation reported that “thousands of fallen trees and downed power lines” led to widespread outages.

By mid-afternoon on Monday, more than 31,000 of Dominion Energy’s 46,000 Albemarle County customers were without power, according to outage aggregator Power­Outage.US. In the city, 13,000 out of 24,000 households lost electricity.

“We encourage those in the hardest hit areas, including Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Northern Virginia, and Richmond to prepare for the possibility of being without power for multiple days,” reads a Dominion statement from Monday evening. “We know you are frustrated…Crews will work throughout the night to restore service.”

Many area residents spent Monday night without power, with temps dropping below 20 degrees. By the middle of the day on Tuesday, the percent of outages had decreased, but thousands locally still had no electricity access.

Percent of Dominion customers without power:

Albemarle
Noon Monday – 67
8 pm Monday – 62
8 am Tuesday – 46

Charlottesville
Noon Monday – 54
8 pm Monday – 25
8 am Tuesday – 16

Highway shut down for hours

The winter storm jammed up operations all across the state. Hundreds of drivers were stranded on I-95 for as much as 19 hours beginning on Monday evening. The slowdown started when a tractor-trailed lost control, leading to a domino effect of stopped commercial vehicles, the Associated Press reports. On midday Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Transportation was still hard at work getting people off the road. “​​We are working to get traffic moving again as best we can using every available interchange between Prince William & Caroline counties,” the agency reported early on Tuesday.

Senator Tim Kaine was among those stuck in his car on the blocked highway. “I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday. 19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol,” he tweeted at 8:30 am on Tuesday morning. “I’m frustrated, but not in serious trouble. If you are in trouble on Virginia roads today, call @VaDOT at 1-800-FOR-ROAD.”

Virginia approves new maps

Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Virginia approved new congressional and General Assembly maps, which will go into effect for this November’s elections.

An initial draft of the maps would have split Albemarle down the middle, putting the northern half of the county in the 7th Congressional District. The final maps keep all but the very northwest corner of the county in the 5th District. Though the district’s lines change in places, analysis from The Washington Post says the partisan composition of the new 5th District is very similar to the partisan competition of the old iteration, which Bob Good won by 5 percent in 2020. Statewide, the Post says the current map has five solidly Democratic seats, three toss-ups, and three districts that lean Republican. The new map has six districts that favor Dems, one toss-up, and three that favor Republicans. (Currently, Democrats control seven of Virginia’s 11 districts.)

The reshuffling has impacts in the state chambers, too—under the new maps, longtime Charlottesville and Albemarle state senator Creigh Deeds no longer lives in the district he currently represents. Deeds, however, says he plans to move out of Bath County and into the Charlottesville area so he can run for re-election. At the House of Delegates level, four different delegates currently represent portions of Albemarle. Under the new map, that’s down to just two.—Ben Hitchcock

In brief

C’ville bachelorette gone in record time

“Well, That Was The Quickest Elimination In Bachelor History,” reads a Bustle headline about Salley Carson, a Charlottesville native and contestant on the reality show’s 26th season. Carson called off her wedding just weeks before appearing on the show—and on the first day of filming found that she just wasn’t ready to turn around and find love so quickly. Despite an offer to stay in the competition from bachelor Clayton Echard, Carson departed in the season’s first episode.

Slow down, plead locals

A Richmond woman died in a car crash on 5th Street late on New Year’s Eve, leading local advocacy group Livable Cville to call for safety adjustments on the busy roadway. Members of LC held a press conference at the site of the crash on January 2, demanding the city reduce the speed limit from 45 to 40 and make other safety changes to the street.

Hospital limits visitors

The UVA hospital has reinstated limitations on visitors, citing the uptick in coronavirus cases in the region. Since January 3, visitors have not been allowed in the emergency department, outpatient facilities, the lobby, the cafeteria, or any public spaces. The hospital does make exceptions for pediatric patients and those nearing the end of life.

Youngkin staffs up

Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin continues to add new names to his staff ahead of his inauguration later this month. Youngkin’s chief of staff will be Jeff Goettman, a businessman who worked in Trump’s treasury department. He also hired McGuireWoods big-shot lawyer Richard Cullen, a Republican Virginia Attorney General in the 1990s, as a counselor.

Pouring it on

At Mas Tapas, muralist Chicho Lorenzo notes that the snow “made an awesome collaboration,” adding a frothy head to the beverage held up by one of the revelers in Lorenzo’s mural.