Virginia - NRCCO

In 2023 and 2024, Virginia created a two-part independent prison oversight structure, consisting of the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman (“Ombuds Unit”), which is housed in the Office of the State Inspector General (“OSIG”), and the Corrections Oversight Committee (“Oversight Committee”). Each of these entities is described separately below. The Ombuds Unit will conduct regular inspections and investigate complaints. The Oversight Committee is a mix of legislators and governor appointees who will publicly review the Ombuds Unit’s work, coordinate with the Department and Governor, and supplement the Unit’s prison inspections with at least one annual random inspection.

OFFICE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS OMBUDSMAN (“Ombudsman Unit”)

Budget

$787,515 (2025), $718,855 (2026)

Staffing

Six staff members; the office is led by Corrections Ombudsman Andrea Sapone.

State Prison Profile

Virginia has 50 state prison facilities and incarcerates approximately 22,767 people in state prisons. The state prison system is run by the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC).

Authority

Code of Virginia Title 52.1, Chapter 1, Article 4, amended April 2024.

Structure: The office is structurally placed within the Governor’s office, in the Office of the State Inspector General (OSIG), with the Ombudsman being considered a Governor’s office employee. The Ombudsman is appointed by the State Inspector General, with the Co-chairs of the Corrections Oversight Committee (see below) invited to participate in finalist interviews for the position. The Ombudsman can make recommendations to OSIG to hire staff, contractors, or volunteers, and to secure space and contract with experts as needed to support the Ombuds Unit’s work.
Oversight Committee: A Corrections Oversight Committee (“Oversight Committee”) was established to advise and assist the office. The Oversight Committee is described in more detail below.
Authorized Activities:
- General Responsibilities: the Ombuds Unit is charged with:
  - providing information about the rights of incarcerated people to people incarcerated by VADOC, their families and representatives, and VADOC employees;
  - monitoring conditions of confinement to assess compliance with laws and best practices;
  - providing technical support for self-advocacy by incarcerated people;
  - establishing a statewide, uniform system to collect and analyze data on deaths in custody, sexual and physical assaults, restorative housing, staffing, visitation, and grievances;
  - gathering stakeholder input;
  - inspecting each VADOC facility at least once every 3 years, with all maximum- security facility or facilities where the Unit has found past issues inspected at least once a year, and with all initial inspections completed by July 1, 2026;
  - monitoring and reporting on VADOC complaint and grievance processes; and
  - providing mechanisms to collect complaints related to a broad array of confinement concerns, as described by statute.
- Classification of Facilities: After inspecting a facility, the Unit is mandated to publicize a report that includes a “safety and compliance” classification for the facility. Facilities are assigned one of three classification tiers based on twelve factors listed in the Ombuds Unit’s empowering statute.
- Investigations: The Unit is further empowered to investigate issues relating to abuse or neglect, conditions of confinement, VADOC administrative actions or inactions, VADOC policies, or VADOC violations of law, either on the Ombuds Unit’s own initiative or upon receiving a complaint. The Unit can make recommendations to VADOC after an investigation and can require a written response about any resulting VADOC actions. The Ombuds Unit is also empowered to further investigate or review VADOC internal disciplinary processes that result from its investigations.
Access: The Office shall have the same powers and rights to access as Office of the State Inspector General employees, who conduct inspections of licensed mental health treatment units in state correctional facilities. The Ombuds Unit has the right to access VADOC facilities, including all areas used by incarcerated people. The Unit’s inspection powers include the ability to meet privately with any incarcerated person and VADOC employees and contractors, and the right to access “all relevant information, records, or documents in the possession or control of [VADOC],” except for personnel files. The Unit can take photographs and videos in VADOC facilities. VADOC is directed to assist the Ombuds Unit in obtaining releases where necessary. By statute, VADOC has 20 days to respond to the Unit’s written requests for information, and five days to respond if the documents relate to certain topics, such as deaths in custody. If needed, the Unit is empowered to subpoena VADOC, and the Corrections Oversight Committee can make an ex parte application to the relevant state circuit court for a subpoena duces tecum to compel VADOC to produce documents needed for the Unit’s investigations.
Confidentiality: Some categories of information held by the Ombuds Unit—including complaints, evidence from investigations, and some photographs or videos taken during inspections—are not subject to FOIA requests.

Activities

Complaints and Investigations: In its initial months of operation, the Ombudsman Unit established an online complaint form and a hotline, and has been developing a complaint intake process. Between October and November 2024, the office received 44 complaints, and from March to May 2025, the number of complaints rose to 507.

Inspections and Research: The Ombuds Unit has started developing a tool for baseline inspections, which will be used to separate facilities into tiers to determine the frequency of reinspection. As of February 2025, the Unit had completed two baseline facility inspections; it reported results of one of these inspections on February 20, 2025.

Reports

The Ombuds Unit is required to issue a strategic plan, inspection reports, and annual reports, all of which will be publicly available online.

Strategic Plan: The Unit must issue a report on its initial activities and strategic plan by November 15, 2025. This short- and long-term strategic plan must be informed by visits to VADOC facilities, at least two public meetings, consultation with stakeholders, and reviewing best practices in other states.
Inspection Reports: The Unit will issue reports summarizing the findings of each prison facility inspection.
Annual Report: the Unit must issue an annual, publicly-available report that is sent to the Governor, Attorney General, the Director of VADOC, and the relevant House and Senate committees. The report must include a summary of the Ombuds Unit’s inspections and complaint investigations, including the Unit’s recommendations and VADOC’s responses, as well as a description of conditions at each facility and summaries of programming, visitation policies, staffing, lockdowns, assaults, and deaths at each facility. The Ombuds Unit can also request that VADOC inform the Unit of any actions taken on recommendations included in the annual report. The Unit’s December 2024 report on its start-up activities is available here.

CORRECTIONS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE (“Oversight Committee”)

Website

None

Budget

None (staffed by OSIG as needed).

Authority

Code of Virginia Title 52.1, Chapter 1, Article 4, amended April 2024.

Structure: Oversight Committee members serve three-year terms. The Committee consists of 13 unpaid members, including four legislator members (listed here) and nine governor-appointed citizen members representing different stakeholder groups (the stakeholder roles and appointees are listed here). Among the designated appointees are formerly incarcerated individuals, a family member of a currently incarcerated individual, a representative of a prisoner advocacy group, licensed medical and mental health professionals, and current or former correctional employees.
Authorized Activities: The Committee is required to hold at least two public meetings per year to discuss the Ombuds Unit’s work and provide recommendations. Additionally, the Committee is directed by statute to conduct at least one unannounced, random facility inspection per year.
Access: During inspections, the Committee has the same access as the Ombuds Unit. As noted above, the Committee can file for a subpoena for VADOC records.

For Both Oversight Entities:

Organizational History

In February 2023, the Virginia Senate passed a bill to create an independent prison ombudsman’s office, but the measure failed to pass out of a House committee. In September 2023, as the Legislature passed its annual budget amendments, lawmakers established the Office and the Committee under the provisions of the Office of the State Inspector General. In 2024, a traditional bill spelling out the duties and powers of the Ombudsman’s office passed both chambers and was signed into law. On September 25, 2024, Andrea Sapone was hired as the first Corrections Ombudsman for Virginia.

Special Note

Virginia is believed to be the only state that originally established correctional oversight through the budget bill rather than through traditional legislation, though the Legislature passed enabling legislation the following year.

OFFICE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS OMBUDSMAN (“Ombudsman Unit”)

Budget

Staffing

State Prison Profile

Authority

Activities

Reports

CORRECTIONS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE (“Oversight Committee”)

Website

Budget

Authority

For Both Oversight Entities:

Organizational History

Special Note

News Stories

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Virginia puts independent prison oversight office into law