Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 1, 1994                   TAG: 9403010071
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOOT CAMP: VMI OF PRISON SYSTEM?

If comments made in court Monday are any indication, Magistrate Glen Conrad's written opinion will strike down the all-male boot camp at a prison in Southampton.

The magistrate said state officials "may have jumped the gun" when they excluded women from the program. "I have some real problems in understanding how this can be applied constitutionally," Conrad said.

Jennifer Hill West, an inmate at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women, filed suit in U.S. District Court asking that the state be required to allow both men and women into the program.

Felons who qualify for the boot camp spend 90 days in the military-style camp. If they complete the program, they are released and placed on probation for at least a year.

West, convicted in 1992 of possession of two ounces of cocaine with intent to distribute, served 357 days in prison and will remain on probation until 1999.

Deborah Wyatt, West's attorney in the class action suit, said women should have the same opportunity as men to reduce their sentences.

"There is no reason, other than a stereotype," that women have been excluded, she said.

Assistant Attorney General Pamela Sargent said the program does not violate the Constitution because it is a five-year pilot program, started in 1991.

"If we were talking about a permanent program, then I might have more difficulty with the argument," she said. "These programs are expensive. . . . Right now, we are trying to find out if it's good, even for men."

West said that isn't a legitimate argument.

"It's a fine pilot program - just do it equally," she said. "It doesn't matter if it's a five-year program or a two-week program."

The state code says felons, ages 18 to 24 at the time of the offense, who are determined to be nonviolent offenders with no prior incarceration as an adult may be eligible for the boot camp.

West met the criteria for admission to the program, except for her gender, Wyatt said.

The court's ruling will affect only felons who have not been sentenced, the magistrate ruled at the motions hearing Monday.

"I have real problems contemplating what we would do for those who have already been sentenced," Conrad said.