I spend a lot of time searching for just the right stories to feature in Richmond magazine, and every once in a while a writer makes a pitch that results in a home run.
Such was the case with the story idea Dale Brumfield shared with me in July 2021. At first, I wasn’t so sure how interested our readers would be in a 1968 class-action lawsuit that was filed by five inmates of the Virginia State Penitentiary, though Landman v. Royster, settled in 1971, was a landmark case that led to reforms in prison systems nationwide.
But, when Brumfield got to this part of his pitch, I changed my mind: “Only one of those original plaintiffs in Landman v. Royster is still alive,” he wrote in an email. “Calvin Arey, now 79 years of age, has been living a quiet life as a real estate agent in Boston, with no one knowing his history of prison rights leadership and activism in the Virginia corrections system. He has finally elected to go public and tell his story of how five scrappy, profoundly abused inmates prevailed over an inherently biased and powerfully despotic system, with the reverberations centered on the events in Richmond’s Spring Street prison felt nationwide. It is truly a David vs. Goliath story.”
I wanted to know more.
I hope you will take the time to read Brumfield’s feature, “The Unbroken,” on Page 64. We are indebted to Arey, who trusted us with his incredible story. Not only did he speak in detail about and relive the horrific experiences he endured as an inmate at the state prison where he served a 30-year sentence for armed robbery, but he did so uncertain about how those around him today would react when learning the truth about his past.
I’m thankful also to Brumfield for bringing us this story — you can learn how he and Arey first connected on Page 71 — and to Boston-based photographer Alex Gagne, who captured some powerful portraits of Arey in his home.
This issue also marks the first with our new news editor, Scott Bass. I am excited to have him as part of our team. An award-winning veteran journalist, Bass comes to Richmond magazine after spending the past eight years as editor of the Chesterfield Observer. Previously, he worked as news editor/associate editor of Style Weekly and as Richmond editor, associate editor and assistant editor at Inside Business. He was also a staff writer at The Progress-Index in Petersburg. If you have a story idea or hot news tip, contact him at sbass@richmag.com.
