Since the beginning of the pandemic, people incarcerated at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail have called attention to poor COVID containment procedures and unhygienic living conditions at the nearly 50-year-old facility—conditions that reportedly have been significantly worsened by employee negligence and misconduct. Today, staff continue to mistreat the jail’s population, claims Cletorious Rose.
“The officers antagonize and pick on you. They put their hands on you,” says Rose, who has been incarcerated at ACRJ for a year and a half. “It’s wrong, it’s brutal, and it’s inhumane.”
Rose, who is Black, accuses ACRJ of upholding a system of racism and discrimination. She claims white women incarcerated at the jail have falsely accused her of misconduct, and requested keep-away orders against her, requiring her to be housed in a separate area from them. Though she did not commit these offenses, she claims, staff have placed her in solitary confinement multiple times “for weeks and weeks, and months and months.”
“If I tell girls I don’t want to talk to them [or] play cards with them, they’ll get mad and tell [officers], ‘Oh well. Rose did this and that,’ and then they’ll lock me down,” says the 38-year-old mother of two.
Rose admits she has assaulted two other incarcerated women, landing her stints in solitary confinement. “I hit one because she kept saying [the n-word] … and then I had to defend myself from another girl [who] kept provoking me,” she says. However, she has been sent to solitary confinement eight times based on false accusations, she claims.
Rose will soon be sent to the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. On April 25, she was sentenced to four years in prison (with three years suspended) for credit card theft, 10 years (with six years suspended) for robbery, and six years (with four years suspended) for entering a dwelling with intent to commit murder, rape, robbery, or arson. Once at FCCW, Rose says she’ll hire a lawyer and take legal action against ACRJ.
When asked about the misconduct accusations against Rose, ACRJ Superintendent Martin Kumer declined to share her institutional record, citing concerns for her privacy. Rose also declined to have her record shared publicly, claiming it is full of “lies.” However, Kumer defended ACRJ’s decisions regarding Rose’s programming and housing.
“Ms. Rose has a history of claiming racism when [staff] do not tolerate her disruptive behavior,” Kumer told C-VILLE in an email. “She would often complain that her case manager, who was also African American, was a racist.”
Regarding ACRJ’s solitary confinement policy, Kumer explained that the jail places people in segregation “for their own safety or that of other inmates or staff.” As of May 13, 23 incarcerated people—21 men and two women—are in solitary confinement. Six additional men are in medical segregation.
“Their duration in segregation depends primarily on their behavior,” he told C-VILLE. “Inmates are reviewed every two weeks, or more often if necessary, by a panel made up of security staff, case managers, mental, and medical professionals.”
According to Kumer, incarcerated people are issued keep-away orders for threatening, assaulting, or making unwanted sexual advances toward another person, among other offenses. “Some inmates acquire so many keep-aways that they have exhausted all general population housing and program options,” he said.
Amy Bower, who has been incarcerated at ACRJ for about a month, echoes Rose’s accusations of mistreatment at the hands of jail staff. She claims one female guard consistently targets and harasses her.
“I asked her for razors one night and she never brought them, and she’s been all on me ever since then because I got her in trouble,” says Bower, who is in Rose’s cell block. “It’s like the second she comes in the door, she’s all over me over clothes, something hanging up on my wall.”
Kumer claims he has not received any complaints about the officer from Bower.
Last month, Rose filed two grievances against another officer who she claims “uses her job to bully and threaten people. … She’s assaulted two inmates and walks around bragging about it.” However, on May 2, Rose requested the jail drop the grievances she filed against the officer. “I apologize to her,” Rose wrote in the request. “I was wrong on my part [and] I have no issues with her at all. Thanks.”
“Ms. Rose has a history of abusing the grievance process to intimidate and manipulate staff when she does not get her way,” said Kumer in a statement to C-VILLE.
Rose claims she is not alone in enduring racism at ACRJ. In each women’s housing block, “you may find one Black person. … They make sure [there] will be more white people in the block, and then they get together and gang up on the Black person.”
“It’s a lot of hearts in here that are crying out for help,” adds Rose.
The jail’s staff is made up of 67 men and 67 women, according to the superintendent. Around 66 percent of staff members are white, while around 26 percent are Black and 8 percent are another race. “We have staff who represent all races, genders, and sexual orientations, and racism is not tolerated,” Kumer responded to Rose’s accusations.
Rose’s mother, who asked that we not use her name, says she has complained to the jail administration about her daughter’s treatment and urged them to check on her, citing Rose’s medical conditions—but has yet to see any improvements.
“She’s called me so many times crying, saying she’s sick … and [they] are not giving her her meds,” says her mother. “She said she’ll be real cold, and that they have her down in the old part of the jail [where] bugs are crawling around.”
Rose is currently housed in a cell block with Bower and another woman she gets along with, and has not been placed in solitary confinement for over a month due to her good behavior—but continues to face harassment from jail staff, she claims.
“I have made many mistakes,” says Rose. “‘[But] l’ll be damned if I’m treated like a slave, like I ain’t nothing, when I’m just like them.”