The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

After more than a week on a Virginia-wide prison lockdown, Randy is back and recording again. In this episode, he breaks down what led to the statewide lockdown, how it affected daily life inside, and what it felt like to be cut off from the outside world. Raw, real, and straight from the source—this is life behind bars, unfiltered.

💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

Today on the podcast, I wanted to share one of our Patreon-exclusive episodes with our regular audience.
If you haven’t joined us on Patreon yet—what are you waiting for? We’ve got exclusive episodes, All episodes 100% commercial free, behind-the-scenes content, a free copy of Randy’s prison cookbook, and early access to every episode a full week before anyone else gets it.

So if you’ve been thinking about supporting the show, now’s the time. Join us on Patreon and be part of what we’re building.


https://patreon.com/PrisonAudio

In this Patreon-exclusive episode, Randy and Mike break down the psychology of fear, the frustration of dealing with idiots in the system, and why the DOC should legalize and sell weed inside instead of letting the black market flood the yards with K2 and poison. It’s blunt talk about real issues from someone who’s lived it.

💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

Hey everyone — quick update:
Buckingham Correctional Center has been on lockdown, which means Randy hasn’t been able to use the phones or do video visits. He’s okay — he didn’t do anything wrong — but when the prison locks down, everything shuts down: calls, visits, movement. So unfortunately, we haven’t been able to record anything new with him.
But we didn’t want to leave you hanging.
So today we’ve got a special episode featuring Ashley Johnigan, who’s currently serving a life sentence at California Institution for Women. Ashley shares what life looks like from her perspective — including her thoughts on transgender inmates being transferred into women’s prisons, and what her mornings are like behind the walls.
This episode’s a little different from our usual, but we’d love to know what you think:
Should we feature more incarcerated voices when Randy’s temporarily locked down?
Drop a comment and let us know.
Thanks for riding with us — more Randy episodes coming as soon as he’s back on the line.


💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

On today’s episode of the podcast, Randy responds to a question from one of his Patrons — Substack writer black sheep mom — who asked:
👉 “What have you seen in prison when it comes to mothers? The good, the bad, and everything in between?”
From phone calls that never come… to the ride-or-die moms who never miss a visit… to the ones who shaped the man Randy became — he answers it all, raw and real.

🖤 Thank you to @blacksheepmom for the powerful question!


💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

After more than 25 years in solitary and maximum security, Randy has officially transferred to a Level 3 prison — Buckingham Correctional Center in Virginia. In this episode, he shares what the first few weeks have been like adjusting to the new environment, the differences from Red Onion, and what this next chapter means for him.

💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

He made it! After 25+ years behind the walls of Virginia’s toughest supermax prisons, Randy is officially out of Keen Mountain and now at Buckingham Correctional Center—a Level 3!  In this episode, Randy breaks down the transfer process: the bus ride, the emotions, the differences between the prisons, and what this move means for his future.New chapter. New mindset. Same Randy.

💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

Today on the podcast, Randy shares a personal moment — his first in-person visit with his wife, Nicole.  After years of connecting through letters and phone calls, this was the first time they sat across from each other face-to-face. Randy opens up about what that moment meant to him, how it felt, and the emotions that came with finally meeting in person.It’s a rare, intimate episode — one you won’t want to miss.

💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

Today on the podcast, we’re going back to our roots and talking prison drama. In this episode, Randy discusses some recent drama that happened in the pod and how he finds the humor in situations he can’t avoid.

💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

In this episode of Red Onion Randy, Randy explains a "use of force" incident that happened at a California men's prison in 2022.

Check out the full video on our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5uH_2wrkR0&t=178s
to watch as Randy describes it in detail.


💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:
An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:
Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio

The Red Onion Randy Podcast, Featuring the life and times of Randall Via, currently serving 1,214 years in Virginia for capital murder and armed robbery.

After more than five years and 156 episodes, is this the end of Red Onion Randy?

Microsoft is shutting down Skype, which Randy uses to record his podcast and stay in touch with his friend overseas. With Skype gone, what does this mean for the future of the Red Onion Randy Podcast?


💥 Get More on Patreon:
Don’t forget to visit our Patreon for exclusive content! You’ll get:

• An extended conversation about this episode between Randy and his producer
• All 155 episodes of the podcast, 100% commercial-free
• An early copy of Randy’s upcoming cookbook, “Ya Gonna Eat That?”, launching soon on Amazon

🎙️ Credits:

• Founded by Michael Garbutt and Randall Via
• Field & Development Producer: Paulie Doyle
• Sound and Video Editing by Prison Audio