The Shadow
Dear Editor,
Starting September 1, three more Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) facilities will be added to the innovative Virginia Model.
This first of its kind approach to corrections in Virginia started in August 2024 at Lawrenceville Correctional Center. Following its success, the Virginia Model is growing and will be in effect at Buckingham Correctional Center, Dillwyn Correctional Center, and Cluster S1 at Greensville Correctional Center.
The Virginia Model was created to improve safety and security for the VADOC’s corrections team and inmate population. By showing accountability and continuously behaving well, inmates can become eligible for Virginia Model facilities and all the benefits they offer. Those benefits include an expanded food menu, upgraded mattresses, additional programming opportunities, and more.
But there’s another element to The Virginia Model: personal accountability. People need to have the opportunity, resources, and support structure to turn their lives around, but they must also improve through personal accountability. If an inmate refuses to take that accountability to behave well and strive to improve, they are removed immediately.
Incentives don’t work without strict and immediate sanctions.
You might be asking why we put the Virginia Model in place. The answer is that our corrections system is widely regarded as a model for the United States and countries across the globe, but safety is too vital for the VADOC to be satisfied with the status quo. The VADOC’s top priority is the safety and security of our corrections team and inmate population. Safety at Lawrenceville has greatly improved since the Virginia Model took effect, with 100 percent reductions in confirmed drug overdoses and overdose deaths, serious assaults on inmates, and total fights between August 1, 2024
and June 14, 2025.
I want as many inmates as possible to strive to become eligible for the benefits that Virginia Model facilities provide. That will be a win for our corrections team…but it will also be a big win for public safety across the Commonwealth.
VADOC Director Chad Dotson
