Man arrested in 2016 Albemarle County case named in deadly prison attack

The inmate accused in a deadly attack at a Southwest Virginia prison on Monday has been identified.

John Holomon Russell, 32, whose offenses included a shoplifting charge in Albemarle County dating to 2016, is the focus of the investigation, which is being led by Grayson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brandon R. Boyles.

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ICYMI

• Corrections officer at River North Correctional Center killed in attack by inmate

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There is no record on the Virginia court system website at the time of publication of this story of a charge for Russell in the attack of Jeremy Lewis Hall, 40, a corrections officer at River North Correctional Center, who was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Two other corrections officers were treated for injuries sustained in the attack.

Russell was serving time on 2017 convictions for carjacking and firearms charges in Fairfax County and the 2016 shoplifting in Albemarle County.

The 2017 carjacking involved Russell forcing a woman sitting at a stoplight from her car at gunpoint.

The sentence imposed in that case was 15 years, with eight years and one month suspended for the carjacking, and three years for the firearms charge.

I’ve not been able to track down details of the 2016 shoplifting case, for which Russell was sentenced to four years and eight months, with two years and eight months suspended.

The total length of his sentences in the cases amounted to 11 years, 11 months, which would have had Russell serving time into 2029.