THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409140671
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
About 800 Virginia inmates would be sent to privately run prisons in other states in an unprecedented effort to reduce overcrowding in local jails.
Ronald Angelone, the state's prison director recently appointed by Gov. George Allen, disclosed the plan Tuesday during a meeting of Senate Finance Committee panels that are examining the impact of Allen's plan to abolish parole and reform criminal sentencing.
Lawmakers seemed surprised by the novel idea, and an opinion on its legality will be sought from the attorney general's office, Angelone said.
At least three other jurisdictions - Puerto Rico, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. - have transferred inmates to private institutions in other states.
The Virginia Sheriffs Association complained to legislators last month about jail crowding caused by the Allen parole board's tightening of parole approval rates, which has created a backlog of state prisoners in jails. On Monday, the group decided to support full parole abolition.
In an interview, Angelone said the out-of-state transfer is ``an integral part of the governor's program to alleviate jail overcrowding'' and to fast-track prison construction to hold an inmate population that will more than double over the next 10 years.
The transfer program, Angelone said, will start next year and last three or four years. All the prisoners should be back in Virginia by early 1998.
Angelone told lawmakers that Virginia would pay operators of the out-of-state prisons about $16,000 a year for each inmate they house. That's about the same bill that Virginia pays annually to hold such inmates in the state's prisons, he said.
Angelone said plans to alleviate jail crowding also include the addition of 1,500 prison beds at existing prison sites over the next nine months; contracting for 2,000 private in-state prison beds; and the construction of three more new prisons by 1999.
He said if the plans are realized, by January 1998 the department will be complying with state law that requires timely transfer of long-term felons from local jails to state prisons.
Angelone said he anticipates the first 200 minimum- and medium-security inmates would be shipped to private prisons in other states by next August or September, provided the attorney general's office approves.
If all goes according to plan, the out-of-state prisoners would be moved back when two new prisons in Sussex County are opened in January 1998.
The out-of-state plan drew mixed reaction.
Julie McConnell, associate director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the plan is a costly waste.
``How much are we willing to spend in other states to lock up people there?'' she asked. ``We can't build prisons fast enough. It's a complete disaster for our children. If we build prisons, we can't build schools.''
But John Jones, director of the Virginia Sheriffs Association, said he expects sheriffs will work with Angelone to try and solve the backlog of state prisoners in local jails, now standing at 4,600 inmates. by CNB