Biography
Kevin Rashid Johnson is best known for organizing and writing from prison, framing incarceration as a political condition and advocating for prisoner rights, labor organizing, and accountability for abuse behind bars. He helped found the New Afrikan Black Panther Party and has used essays, legal filings, and public campaigns to challenge solitary confinement, censorship, and prison labor practices.
He was convicted of murder in 1990 and sentenced to life imprisonment. During decades of incarceration, he has remained a prominent figure in prisoner-led political education and protest, including through sustained public advocacy despite repeated transfers and disciplinary actions.
Diagnosed with multiple myeloma; supporters have publicly called for medical/compassionate release. Has been repeatedly transferred under interstate compact in apparent retaliation for prison-conditions journalism (prior stints in Oregon, Texas, Florida, Indiana). The National Jericho Movement reported that he was transferred from Virginia to Perry Correctional Institution in South Carolina in May 2025.
The National Jericho Movement’s June–July 2025 newsletter reported that Kevin “Rashid” Johnson was transferred to Perry Correctional Institution in South Carolina in May 2025. Supporters described the transfer and restrictions on communication, legal mail and medical care as retaliation for his prison reporting. The same account said he subsequently moved from solitary confinement into the prison’s general population; this was an internal change of conditions, while he remained imprisoned.
The Dragons Fire, National Jericho Movement newsletter, June15–July15,2025,vol.87, PDF page 17; The Dragons Fire, National Jericho Movement newsletter, June15–July15,2025,vol.87, PDF page 20.
The July 25 alert explicitly reports a July 10, 2018 transfer from Red Onion to Sussex I in Virginia, public prisoner number 1007485. It alleges continuing solitary confinement in reprisal for reporting abuse, legal challenges and prisoner education. A feared future out-of-state or federal transfer is prospective and is not recorded as accomplished.
The Dragons Fire, National Jericho Movement Newsletter, vol. 6, July–August 2018, PDF page 27.
The transfer update places Johnson at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt after Red Onion, closer to medical care, and says he was out of solitary, regaining weight after a hunger strike and resuming communications. It provides no exact transfer day. The separate State Farm centralized book-mail address is not a physical prison transfer.
The Dragons Fire, March 15–April 15, 2024, vol. 72, PDF page 12.
