Virginia’s prisons have been fighting allegations that they callously lock away prisoners for years in solitary confinement.

In 2023, the officers were sued by Kymberly Hobbs, whose brother, Charles Givens, was found dead in his cell in February 2022. Givens was severely mentally handicapped.

NPR first reported on the case of Charles Givens, a disabled inmate at Virginia's Marion Correctional Treatment Center, in ...