With its prisoner population soaring, Bristol Virginia leaders received some staggering information Tuesday on the cost to replace its aging, overcrowded jail versus joining the Southwest Regional Jail Authority.
The Bristol Herald Courier’s series on jail overcrowding called “Critical Mass” has won two additional Virginia Press Association awards, including the 2019 Journalistic Integrity and Community Service Award — the VPA’s highest honor.
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — Consultants working on a master plan for the future of Sullivan County’s jail recommended recently that the county start over and build a new jail on a new site.
The Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority, which houses more prisoners than any other jail authority in the state, has been operating for nearly 15 years.
BRISTOL, Va. — As recently as 2018, Bristol Virginia City Council studied closing the city’s nearly 50-year-old jail and sending all prisoners to the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon — but decided against it.
Right now, it’s a mess. An inhumane, dangerous, immoral mess that only feeds on itself. Human warehouses. Nothing more than a production line that battery farms criminality out into our communities in a never-ending cycle. We could return to the status quo. We can continue to ignore it. We w…
“Don’t put so many people in jail.” At first glance, such a solution may seem childlike. Radical, even. Maybe even crazy or unsafe. It is actually none of the above. But it is true. And it is safely achievable.
What do 75% to 85% of the inmates in the Sullivan County, Tennessee and Bristol, Virginia jails have in common?
More than 100 years ago, inmates in Sullivan County were incarcerated in an overcrowded jail — just like today.
If you want to know about the hopelessness of being addicted to drugs, talk to Roxie and Heath Hopkins.
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — When Amber Neece spoke on the phone with her daughter earlier this year, she had some tough news to deliver.
Pretrial inmates — those who remain incarcerated but have not yet been convicted of a crime — account for a majority of the prisoners housed at the packed jails in Bristol, Virginia and Sullivan County, Tennessee, according to data provided by both facilities.
ABINGDON, Va, January 26, 2023 — A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the capture of two men who walked away from the Southwest Regional Jail Authority in Abingdon around 2:45 p.m., on Thursday.
Is our employment picture getting better or worse? See recent changes in local jobs, unemployment, earnings and more in these regularly updated charts and maps.
Idiosyncratic music seems to the nature of Neko Case. Offbeat melodies married with deep lyrical impressions projected from styles myriad mark the music of the folk-rock veteran.
Five fired Memphis police officers have been charged with murder and other crimes in the killing of Tyre Nichols, a Black motorist who died three days after a confrontation with the officers during a traffic stop. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said although the officers each played different roles in the killing, “they are all responsible.” All of the officers are Black. Video of the Jan. 7 traffic stop will be released to the public sometime Friday evening. Nichols’ family and their lawyers say the footage shows officers savagely beating the 29-year-old father and FedEx worker for three minutes.
A Democratic-led Virginia Senate panel has defeated several bills that would have restricted abortion access in the state. Among them was a measure that was a priority for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The Senate Committee on Education and Health voted the measures down without debate Thursday morning after a subcommittee had previously recommended that they be defeated. The votes were not a surprise. Democrats control the state Senate and have promised since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year to defeat any effort to curtail abortion access. That includes a push by Youngkin and Republican lawmakers for a 15-week ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Boeing has pleaded not guilty to a criminal charge in a case revolving around two crashes of Boeing 737 Max planes. A federal judge in Texas took Boeing's plea Thursday. The judge is considering whether to appoint a special monitor to examine safety issues at the company. It's an unusual case because Boeing thought it had settled the issue when it reached a deal with federal prosecutors two years ago. But relatives of some of the passengers who died are challenging the settlement because they weren't informed about secret negotiations between Boeing and the Justice Department.
Tennessee officials have conceded that two of the people most responsible for overseeing the state's lethal injection drugs testified incorrectly under oath that they were testing the chemicals for bacterial contamination. The revelation from a court filing last week follows an independent report that found Tennessee has never correctly tested drugs for its executions since rewriting the state's lethal injection protocol in 2018. The admission that the state employee tasked with finding the drugs and a private-sector pharmacist who provides them testified incorrectly came in a court challenge by a death row inmate.
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ABINGDON, Va. — Two Tennessee men face multiple charges after authorities said they caught them with over 500 grams of cocaine and three pounds of marijuana.
ABINGDON, Va. — A Washington County, Virginia, man was sentenced to five life terms in prison with an additional eighteen years after being found guilty of multiple rape, sexual abuse and other charges.
CHILHOWIE, Va. — Police in Smyth County, Virginia, are investigating a Saturday night double fatality.
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — The trial for longtime rattlesnake wrangler David – “Rattlesnake Dave” — Richardson of New York came to a close Friday in Sullivan County.
ABINGDON, Va. — Washington County’s Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Tuesday in support of establishing an inland port in the county
JANUARY 26
Edward Wright has been tapped to serve as the new Area Ranger for the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia says there's “a whole lot more” he wants to do and he's seeking reelection next year. Kaine’s plan to run eases Democratic worries about holding onto the seat in a state now led by a Republican governor. Kaine said Friday he had grappled with the decision to seek a third term but feels he has more to accomplish. Kaine will enter the Senate race as the early favorite. The Virginia seat is a must-hold seat for Democrats facing a tough Senate map in 2024. Kaine is a former Virginia governor and was Hillary Clinton's running mate in the 2016 presidential election.