by Olivia Bryant-Bailey, CCCAN Organizer

Open letter to Prince William County NAACP, dated January 28, 2024.

Hello NAACP,

We have already reached out to the national NAACP for help and gotten no response.

The Prince William-Manassas Adult Regional Detention Center in Manassas (right on the border – detainees from both counties go there) is massively abusing human rights.

They are beating people unconscious, breaking bones, using the mental health staff to abuse, etc. They are doing this to coerce plea deals which somehow makes them money.

Police Chief Newsham, Amy Ashworth, Glen Hill, and Peter Meletis are all fully aware of what is happening inside the jail and have done nothing to stop it – in fact, Glen Hill and Meletis have had many many lawsuits over the years about them abusing inmates.

In 2023, Michael Day was beaten unconscious, he was booked supposedly on assaulting his wife and an officer. He never did either and never was convicted of any crime. He said all the COs that participated in his beating were white, and they were saying, “he hit one of our own!”

There is collusion between the police department and the jail. Within the past month, Emmanuel Boangng was beaten by police badly, and then was detained at the jail for two weeks without being booked – they told his brother he wasn’t there. When his brother found out he was there, he sent a lawyer in to take pictures of his injuries which Still looked like they needed medical attention.

The police have booked Mustafa Aljazairi on a falsified police report, written by investigator Drumm, who is known for falsifying other things. When his family complained about his report and asked for an investigation, the COs in the jail beat him unconscious. His health is rapidly deteriorating and they are denying him medical care.

Chief Newsham is on camera saying he knows Mustafa’s police report was falsified; but he is keeping Mustafa detained because “he believes he did it.”. When personal (prejudices) beliefs are allowed to take precedence over evidence and presumption of innocence, the law is not being followed and there IS NO justice system.

All the deaths at the jail in recent years have been minorities, and with the exception of a suicide, they were all ruled “unknown causes”.

The human rights abuses and laws being broken in this jail are alarming; and what is more disgusting and shocking is that all the parties that should stop it, are aware and are probably encouraging it.

NAACP, please reach out to stop these egregious abuses. We want “Sheriff” Glen Hill and “Colonel” Meletis fired. We want oversight of this jail. We want the jail to know that this cannot go on.

We need support with both legal help and community support. Please respond and let us know how you can help. We are calling on you to help us end these abuses.

Thank you,

Olivia Bryant-Bailey

CCCAN Organizer

(Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this article reflect those strictly of the author.)