$23,138 Plus Out-Of-State Transfer for Virginia Prisoner Who Accused Guards of Excessive Force and Altering Video
On March 25, 2024, Virginia prisoner Steven Allen Riddick, 50, agreed to accepted $23,138 from the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to settle claims made in several civil rights cases filed in federal court for the Western District of Virginia. Under the settlement, DOC also agreed to make good-faith efforts to move Riddick out of state, most likely to the Maryland DOC, which had previously agreed to accept him.
In April 2019, Riddick was 16 years into a life term at Red Onion State Prison for the 2003 murder of his pregnant girlfriend, U.S. Navy sailor Veronica Collins-Goss, 28. On April 5, 2019, when he refused an order to come to his cell door, Riddick said that guards maced and punched him, leaving him shackled by the legs in his cell and then denying him medical treatment. After that, he was also subjected both to retaliatory discipline and medical neglect, he claimed. He filed three suits making these claims in 2020 and 2022; in one, he also alleged that guards allowed another prisoner to assault Riddick while he was restrained, afterward altering surveillance video to cover their tracks.
The district court denied the motion for spoliation of surveillance video evidence on December 9, 2022. See: Riddick v. Franklin, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 222601 (W.D. Va.). On March 31, 2023, his retaliation complaint was largely dismissed. See: Riddick v. Mickles, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57665 (W.D. Va.). The same day, his suit over the assault by another prisoner was largely dismissed, too. See: Riddick v. Collins, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56547 (W.D. Va.).
Meanwhile, Riddick was told in 2021 that he’d been approved for out-of-state transfer to make a “fresh start.” But when he later asked about it, he was allegedly told, “What transfer? You got all these lawsuits, you’re not leaving now.” So Riddick filed a fourth suit alleging that the transfer was revoked for retaliatory motives. After that, the parties proceeded to reach their settlement agreement. Riddick was represented pro bono in all four suits by Roanoke attorneys Daniel J. Martin of Fishwick & Assoc., PLC and Paul G. Beers of Glenn Feldmann Darby & Goodlatte. See: Riddick v. Franklin, USDC (W.D. Va.), Case No. 7:20-cv-00081; Riddick v. Mickles, USDC (W.D. Va.), Case No. 7:20-cv-00559; Riddick v. Collins, USDC (W.D. Va.), Case No. 7:20-cv-00742; and Riddick v. Clarke, USDC (W.D. Va.), Case No. 7:22-cv-00304.
Riddick is to be commended for his perseverance. A prolific litigator, his settlement agreement also called for voluntarily dismissal of nine appeals to these suits pending at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, plus 10 more suits pending in the district court, including seven against DOC personnel who had not yet been served and three against guards not named in any of his other suits.
Additional source: Newport News Daily Press
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login