Grand jury indicts inmate in murder of corrections officer at River North

A grand jury has handed down an indictment in the murder of a corrections officer at River North Correctional Center in Grayson County last month.

John Holomon Russell, 32, an inmate at the medium-security prison, was indicted in the Nov. 17 murder of Jeremy Lewis Hall, 40, and Russell faces additional charges related to the attack, in which two other corrections officers were injured.

Hall had been an employee with the Virginia Department of Corrections since April 25, 2024.

Russell was indicted on one count of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, one count of malicious wounding and one count of aggravated malicious wounding.

“I want to thank Grayson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brandon R. Boyles and his office for pursuing charges for the unspeakable killing of Master Corrections Officer Jeremy Lewis Hall and attack on two additional members of our River North corrections team,” said VADOC Director Chad Dotson. “The VADOC will continue to seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law – and our agency will never stop saying Officer Hall’s name and honoring his legacy of service and sacrifice in the line of duty.”

Russell’s prior offenses included a shoplifting charge in Albemarle County dating to 2016, and 2017 convictions for carjacking and firearms charges in Fairfax 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.

River North is a medium-security prison that opened in 2013 with a working capacity of 1,024 inmates.

The prison is one of three that were the focus of protests outside the VADOC headquarters in Richmond back in October.

Dozens of friends and family of inmates at River North, Red Onion and Wallens Ridge rallied to call for change in leadership at the three state prison facilities, citing poor conditions and inhumane treatment.