Virginia Leads the Way

This month, Governor Spanberger signed SB 136 and HB 149 into law, building on REFORM and our coalition’s previous legislative successes and further improving Virginia’s probation system, making it one of the smartest and most effective in the country.  Starting July 1, 2026, the 52,000 Virginians currently on probation will have a real opportunity to earn their way off supervision by demonstrating compliance, rehabilitation, and low risk to the community.

Here’s what that means:

• People doing the work are empowered to earn their way out of the system;
• Probation officers can focus their resources on higher-risk cases;
• Virginia benefits from a stronger workforce; and
• Public safety resources are directed where they matter most.

It’s a simple idea with bipartisan support across the Commonwealth: when people on probation are doing the work to turn their lives around, they should have a real opportunity to continue building on their success, contribute to their communities, and put the system behind them.

Quadaire’s Story

Quadaire Patterson walked out of prison on July 1, 2024, after serving 16 years for a robbery he committed as an 18-year-old high school dropout and new father desperate to provide for his family. He came home to a fiancée and five years of probation.

While incarcerated, Quadaire had done the work of transforming his life and plotting a better future for himself and his family. He earned his GED, took college courses, counseled men struggling with mental health and gang involvement, and laid the groundwork for Brilliance Behind Bars, the nonprofit he launched the day he got out.

And in the nearly two years since he came home, he’s gotten married, become a father to a baby girl, and built an organization that’s changing lives across Virginia. By any honest measure, Quadaire is exactly the kind of person probation is supposed to reward. Instead, the old system has kept him under a microscope: warrantless searches, fees that eat into his paycheck, weeks of paperwork to visit family out of state, and persistent interruptions to “check in” that interfere with his workday.  That’s what SB 136 and HB 149 finally fix. Starting July 1, 2026, exactly two years after Quadaire came home, Virginians who’ve put in the work can earn a recommendation for early termination from their probation officer. For Quadaire, it could mean closing the book on the criminal justice system for good. “It feels like a dream come true,” he says. “And I don’t take for granted the lawmakers who made it possible.”

Five Years in the Making

This win didn’t happen overnight. It took nearly four years of work across different gubernatorial administrations and party shifts, with the bill growing stronger and earning more bipartisan support along the way. And it was built on a foundation we’d been laying in Virginia since 2021.

That year, REFORM Alliance helped pass our first Virginia bill, HB 2038, alongside a coalition and with broad bipartisan support. The law capped probation terms and replaced incarceration for first-time technical violations, like missing a meeting or failing to report a change in employment, with more effective responses. Since it took effect, more than 6,000 Virginians have been spared incarceration for first-time technical violations alone, keeping families together, jobs intact, and lives on track. We furthered the impact of HB2038 in 2025 with the passage of HB1589, which expanded HB2038’s reforms to include people who were previously supervised by the Parole Board’s post-release supervision system. This bill gave even more Virginians access to a fairer, more transparent system.

Capping probation terms and ending unnecessary incarceration for technical violations were necessary guardrails. But a system built entirely around punishment isn’t going to encourage anyone to succeed. REFORM has long championed a bigger idea: supervision should reward rehabilitation and incentivize success so that people have a real opportunity to rebuild their lives.  That means real, evidence-based pathways for people to pursue education, employment, and treatment and to earn their way off supervision through early termination. That’s the gap that we set out to close in 2024. 

After probation reform legislation passed both chambers with bipartisan support in 2024, only to be vetoed by Governor Youngkin, our coalition went back to work. Alongside Delegates Wren Williams (R) and Katrina Callsen (D) and Senators Christie New Craig (R) and Barbara Favola (D), we engaged Governor Youngkin’s administration, grew support, and earned his signature on a bill that established a cross-partisan working group to refine the policy.Last fall, that group, made up of law enforcement leaders, prosecutors, victims groups, and advocates including REFORM Alliance, built what became SB 136 and HB 149.

We’re deeply grateful to Delegate Williams and Senator New Craig as well as Delegate Katrina Callsen and Senator Barbara Favola for their sustained leadership, and to the advocates and law enforcement leaders who stood with us every step of the way. A special thanks to the Virginia Police Benevolent Association and the Virginia Department of Corrections, whose input was invaluable to the final policy.

Tens of Thousands Will Feel the Difference

Virginia is showing the country what’s possible when advocates and legislators work together to build partnerships across the justice system. With HB 2038, HB 1589, SB 136, and HB 149 signed into law, the Commonwealth has built a supervision system that supports rehabilitation, strengthens families, and keeps communities safe. More than 20 states have passed similar reforms, and the results are clear everywhere they’ve been tried: lower recidivism, real taxpayer savings, and more people getting their lives back on track. Virginia now joins them and tens of thousands of people on probation in the Commonwealth will soon feel the difference.

A Special Note: This victory carries the legacy of our late Virginia State Organizer, Sincere Allah, whose leadership and commitment helped drive this work forward. Sincere believed deeply in building a system that gives people a real chance to succeed, and this win reflects his vision. It wouldn’t have happened without him.