RICHMOND, Va. — A former Virginia inmate is speaking out about the death of a prisoner at a high security facility in Southwest Virginia, claiming that he witnessed correctional officers beat the man “literally to death.”
27-year-old Aubrey McKay died on June 4, 2025. He was in custody at Wallens Ridge State Prison in Wise County.
“The cause of death is multifactorial asphyxia and the manner of death is homicide,” said Office of the Chief Medical Examiner spokesperson Tristen Franklin.
McKay spent nearly a decade inside the Supermax facility on an aggravated malicious wounding conviction. He was weeks away from release when he died. He was scheduled to go home on his 28th birthday, July 28.
“Everyone makes mistakes when they're kids, " said former prisoner Devon Jensen. ”He was in the process of exiting the gang life. He had a good heart.”
Devon Jensen was in the re-entry program with McKay at the facility and says he witnessed the events leading up to McKay's death.
“My cell was connected to his,” said Jensen.
CBS 6 has confirmed with sources familiar with the investigation that the two inmates were in adjoining cells, and sources have verified Jensen’s account.
"I got to know him real well and talk to him about things he had going on in the prison and how long he did and, you know, his mother being diagnosed with cancer," Jensen said.
Jensen says that news devastated McKay at a time when the prison was on lockdown after an attack by inmates injured five guards.
"He always used to say, he was like, that's all I have left, and I don't want to go home to nothing, and I cannot lose her. I can not take it anymore," Jensen said.
Jensen says McKay began asking for mental health help in the days that followed.
"He started asking for help. He would bang on the walls and on the door and call for the COs and ‘Hey, I need help. I need mental health help. Please send somebody in here. I can't take it anymore,’” Jensen explained.
“I would hear him be like, ‘Man, I need to speak to mental health. Man, I'm going through some things, and I got some things going on on the street that I need to speak to my mother. I need to make sure that she's okay.’ And nobody would give him any help man, and the nurses kept saying, I physically heard them say multiple times, ‘I'll let mental health know. I'll let mental health know.’ And they never came.”
On June 4, 2025, sources say Wallens Ridge officials attempted to move McKay to a more secure part of the prison.
Jensen says, “They opened his slot, every door has a slot where you pass your tray. He stuck his arm straight out the slot. He's like, ‘I'm not closing the slot until I get some help.’ I guess when he stuck his arm out the slide, the CO was too close, and he tapped the CO, and the CO slammed the slot shut and called the code.” Jensen explained.
Jensen says officers eventually convinced McKay to allow them to cuff his hands behind his back through the slot and demanded he get on his knees with his back to them.
Jensen says McKay refused to turn his back to the officers and insisted on facing them.
"They popped his door, he got off of his knees and ran out the door. You know what I mean, and he tried to jump over the tier onto the steps because there is nowhere else to go," Jensen said.
"They grabbed him by his hair, his dreads, and they were pulling his dreads back and they had him by his handcuffs. He was hanging off the tier though, and as they were holding him, the dreads were coming out of his head, so they would grab more and they would try to pull them. They eventually got him back over the tier and onto the floor.”
"When they got him back over the tier on the floor one of the COs wrapped him up in a headlock and jumped on his back. So now he's on the floor with his hands behind his back like this, a man on his back in a headlock, and then the rest of the COs are hitting him and slamming his head on the floor," Jensen said.
"COs are jumping on top of the pile you know like you see in football, like the dog pile thing. COs kept jumping on top, jumping on top, and I'm assuming put more pressure on his neck and that would be why his wind pipe and Adam's apple was fractured and crushed," Jensen said.
On June 10 and June 18 Jensen documented what he says he witnessed in Virginia Department of Corrections grievance reports including a description of the repeated requests for mental health treatment Jensen claims he heard McKay make before his death.
Gary York, a retired senior prison inspector who spent close to three decades in correctional facilities in Florida weighed in on the case.
"If we ignore the inmates' pleas for help when they receive news of this nature, things begin to fester," York said.
"In this case, they could have put him on the phone with his mother to help ease his mind and maybe, maybe, and probably, all this would have never even happened. We wouldn't be talking today," York said.
York says officers have a responsibility to intervene when a colleague's use of force goes too far.
"What should have happened is officers need to help each other. If an officer is going rogue, getting out of hand, doing a use of force. Other officers are responsible to do what we call tap out. Tap that officer out. Say, ‘Come on, come on. Let's get you out of here,’ because that officer is too involved," York said.
"Once they've cuffed up, you just use control force, hold them on the arms and move them, and you should have plenty of staff to do that without having to beat, kick or hit an inmate that is handcuffed, which is against the rules," York said.
York says the first 48 hours after McKay's death were the most crucial in the investigation, and that videos and interviews should ultimately lead to a fair and unbiased outcome in the case.
"Let the chips fall where they may, let the evidence prove the case," York said. "In the end the truth comes out.”
"I committed a crime, and they gave me my time,” said Jensen. “Those COs that killed Aubrey, they're not exempt from the law because they're COs."
"Aubrey doesn't deserve to be treated, or any other inmate in there, no matter what they did, does not deserve to be treated like less of a human than anyone else. It's not right," Jensen said.
“I don't want people to think of him as just an inmate. He was a human being. He was a person,” Jensen said. “He did his time, and he was going home to his family, he was going home to be somebody, and they took that away from him,” Jensen added.
According to his obituary, McKay was described by family as a “lovable but stern courageous big mamas[sic] boy.”
Avondra Carter was his only sister among four siblings. “I would love the world to know how loving and caring he was despite him being incarcerated,” she said. “He was the sweetest soul ever. He was our protector, the one who kept us all strong and going with his encouraging words every time we spoke to him. He never let us give up on anything because he was so supportive,” Carter added.
CBS 6 requested an on-camera interview with Virginia Department of Corrections Director Joseph Walters, but our request was declined.
VADOC spokesperson Kyle Gibson confirmed that the McKay investigation was turned over to the Virginia State Police (VSP) on July 22, 2025, at the direction of former VADOC Director Chadwick Dotson. CBS 6 asked if this was standard policy and Gibson replied, “this was not standard practice for the agency."
CBS 6 tried to reach out to Dotson for comment via email, but we have not heard back.
According to the VADOC website, The VADOC Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES) is “sworn special agents and analytical staff who investigate all incidents, inmate deaths, and allegations of misconduct reported by staff across the agency or members of the general public."
On page seven of its standard operating procedures, it states the OLES has authority to conduct investigations into an "Unnatural death (homicide, accident, suicide of an inmate or CCAP probationer/parolee), death by unknown cause”.
In January of this year, Director Walters shifted the agency's supervision directly under him.
CBS 6 reached out to VSP for an update on the McKay investigation. VSP spokesperson Robin Lawson said, “The Commonwealth Attorney is still doing their review of the investigation and has not rendered a decision.”
CBS 6 reached out to Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brett Hall for a status on the McKay case, and to ask if he considered appointing a special prosecutor and pointed out the public pressure and scrutiny surrounding this case.
He said, “We have not yet made a charging decision on this matter and the investigation remains open. Therefore, I may not comment further.”
“The potential appointment of a special prosecutor is considered in every case. There is nothing in this matter that presents a conflict to warrant the need for a special prosecutor,” he added.
“I do not allow “public pressure and scrutiny” to influence any of my decisions, and I will not allow it to do so in this case, either. My job at this juncture is to use my training, knowledge of the law, and knowledge of the facts to determine whether charges will be taken.
There is plenty of evidence to review in this case and my office is doing just that. Whatever decision we make will be a thorough and well thought-out one,” Hall added.
Sources with the VADOC say one officer involved in the McKay case was terminated earlier this year.
CBS 6 asked Jensen what his message would be to prosecutors and investigators.
“My message to them would be, talk to more of the inmates, because there's more to the story that you're not going to get from the COs. No one else can tell you the truth better than the ones that are in there witnessing it."
York agrees, “If you're going to be fair and impartial, you must interview the inmates. The inmates are just one piece of the puzzle, but we must interview everybody. ”
“I understand that at this prison, three officers were stabbed. At another prison nearby, an officer was killed.”
“Correctional officers face so many challenges, dangers every day and across our country today, in 2026 we are very short staffed everywhere, jails and prisons,” said York.
“We have to train our officers to use verbal judo and work smarter, not harder, use interpersonal skills, and we could probably de-escalate a lot of these incidents. Remember, this inmate received bad news,” York added.
Under the Freedom of Information act CBS 6 submitted the following requests to the Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and the VSP.
Wise County denied our entire request for records, and the VADOC estimated that it would take at least 82 hours and just under $3,000 to produce some of the responsive documents we were requesting.
The VADOC did confirm it “has approximately 274 pages, 21.3 GB of body-worn camera footage and 7.2 GB of MaxPro footage” that was responsive to our request.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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