Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE AND DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
Inmate Randy Ward used to work as a prison laborer for a dollar or two a day, enough money for an occasional magazine or candy bar.
Ward's canteen account dried up, however, when he and some 700 other Virginia prisoners were sent out of state. "I was shipped by plane to Texas with no means to support myself,'' Ward wrote in a letter to The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. ``Texas officials don't pay for inmate work."
The administration of Gov. George Allen has signed away Ward's rights under state law, in effect making him and other Virginia inmates unpaid laborers for Newton County, Texas.
``We cannot tell another state to pay their inmates,'' said Ronald Angelone, director of the Virginia Department of Corrections. ``Once they're in Texas, they're in Texas' program.''
But Democratic lawmakers say Angelone's get-tough policies may have gone too far, and that the administration's contract with the Texas jail may violate a state law that guarantees inmates will be paid for labor.
"That's certainly an equal treatment question," said Del. James Almand, D-Arlington. "You'd be paid if you were an inmate in Virginia. It's not your fault that you were sent somewhere else and still have to work."
``It's a mess,'' said Del. Jay DeBoer, D-Petersburg, chairman of the House Interstate Cooperation Committee.
``What you're likely to see is either a request for a formal opinion from the attorney general or a lawsuit filed by one of the inmates.''
The Texas prison contract could become a political issue at a time when the Allen administration faces scrutiny over its full-tilt drive toward privatization. Today, the state internal auditor is scheduled to release findings on a controversial payroll contract awarded to a former state employee and Allen adviser.
Tuesday, Democrats in the House of Delegates called for public hearings to explore ``all of the various allegations'' concerning the administration of the Department of Corrections. Those allegations include mismanagement by Angelone when he headed Nevada's corrections system, and the discovery of a loaded pistol in a death-row inmate's typewriter.
``I think they're playing politics with the Department of Corrections,'' said Public Safety Secretary Jerry Kilgore. ``For them to determine that Ron Angelone is the political whipping boy of the 1995 elections is misplaced.''
The contract with Texas was a first for Virginia. Tougher parole standards clogged local jails and forced the state to find more space for inmates. Allen and the Democrats proposed various prison construction projects, but needed a temporary fix.
Enter Jim Roberts, vice president of marketing for Oklahoma-based Dominion Management Inc. and a broker trying to fill Newton County's 900-bed prison.
Roberts introduced the Virginia Department of Corrections to Newton County, the easternmost county in Texas. Virginia agreed to pay Newton County $43 a day for each inmate. Of that, the county pays Dominion Management $5.50 a day, which could total more than $1 million this year.
The contract provides for office space in case Virginia wants to send a full-time monitor to Texas. Unless problems are found, Allen administration officials say it's not worth it.
Instead, Virginia depends on Dominion Management.
It acts as ``the eyes and ears,'' monitoring BRG, the private company that operates the Newton County facility, according to Ed Morris, deputy director of the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Morris said he receives weekly updates from Dominion about operations at the prison. The company also arranges air transportation of inmates to and from Virginia.
Virginia officials also use other checks, including a detailed audit in June and an unannounced visit from Angelone. Morris and others are in frequent contact with BRG and Newton County officials by phone.
And no problems have been reported. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has given the prison good reviews and recorded no serious deficiencies. Its last review was Jan. 11, just over one month before Virginia inmates arrived.
The matter of inmate pay, Angelone said, is not one of those problems, because Virginia officials knew about it all along. They interpret the law to say Virginia inmates don't have to be paid if they're kept outside Virginia.
But the matter might not be that simple. An interstate compact that governs prisoner transfers says inmates cannot be deprived of a right they would have in one state just because they are transferred to another.
And inmate pay is not just a policy in Virginia, it's the law.
"The state is responsibile for those prisoners," said Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. "When they contract that responsibility out to a private firm, the whole thing is potentially so problematic."
Complicating the issue is a statement Tuesday by Lon Sharver, Newton County's administrator and top elected official, who said the county is working to begin paying Virginia inmates ``everything they're supposed to get.''
``We have some delicate negotiations that we have to iron out with Virginia,'' Sharver said. He would not elaborate.
by CNB