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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 21, 1994                   TAG: 9412210080
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-12   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

PULASKI COUNTY DECISION ON JAIL MAY NOT COME UNTIL FEBRUARY

Pulaski County, the favorite location for a proposed regional jail, may not decide until February whether it will participate in the project.

The county Board of Supervisors was to make its decision Monday night so the 1995 General Assembly could consider the application for funding half of this and other regional jail projects. But the legislature has postponed discussion for this regional jail and now plans to take up the funding issue in 1996.

That gives localities an extra two months to tell the state whether they're in or out of the project.

So far, only Radford has adopted an agreement which would create a regional jail authority. Pulaski County, the city of Galax and counties of Giles, Floyd, Grayson and Tazewell have taken no action.

A regional jail would improve job opportunities if it is located in Pulaski County, staff members say. The existing jail employs 25 people; a regional jail would employ 136.

Other advantages listed by the board include avoiding long-term maintenance and reducing operational costs, freeing Sheriff's Office personnel for other tasks, pulling in more state funding for construction, increasing the availability of inmate labor and reducing local liability for inmate suits.

Disadvantages would include increased transportation costs, especially for participants located outside Pulaski County, and increasing visitor traffic to jail inmates. Supervisor Bruce Fariss was concerned about the possibility of relatives of long-term jail inmates moving to the county.

Were Pulaski instead to improve its local jail, the Sheriff's Office would have more knowledge about its inmates and could improve its structure at the county's convenience. But there are limits to how much the jail could expand, and the office would likely still have to pay rent to send special case inmates - those who have medical problems or are especially dangerous, for example - to more suitable jails.

The size of the existing jail would be limited to 150 inmates even after a renovation. Projections show the county housing 140 prisoners by 2000.

by CNB