The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994           TAG: 9409150486
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                         LENGTH: Medium:   59 lines

QUESTIONS ON WORK-RELEASE CENTER PLAGUE RESIDENTS

Lack of information about a proposed minimum-security facility for state prisoners in Bowers Hill has stirred as much fear among residents as the idea of the facility itself.

Residents say the two private companies that would lease the 396-bed facility to the state have done little to resolve unanswered questions about security over parolees and soon-to-be released prisoners who would receive job training and counseling under the plan.

``This is a totally new type of facility for this state,'' said Bruce McDaniel, a member of the Sunray Farmers Association.

The 10-acre facility along West Military Highway would be state-funded but owned and operated by Dominion Leasing Inc. and Corrections Partners Inc.

McDaniel and 200 other residents packed a Planning Commission meeting Wednesday to ask how the permit request for the site had gotten as far as a public hearing without knowledge of how the facility would affect the area.

``I want to know this,'' McDaniel said. ``Who is going to control the facility on a daily basis? How many other facilities like this do these companies operate? What has their success been? And how do you define minimum security?''

Residents expressed fear about nonviolent offenders traveling in and out of their neighborhood with little supervision.

``(Some of) these people are parole violators,'' said Dunedin Civic League President Anne Tregembo. ``What guarantees do we have that they're not going to do it again? You can't turn people like that around in 90 days.''

That fear is heightened, residents say, by the fact that the facility will be privately owned and run.

``When you look at private vs. public ventures, the private is bound to want to make the dollars work vs. making the security foolproof,'' said Gary Szymanski, president of the farmers association, in an interview.

Residents also fear that Chesapeake would lose control over the facility if the state decided to buy the property once the lease was up.

Planning commissioners had little more knowledge about the impact of the facility than residents did. They voted 7-2 to hold another public hearing next month.

Commissioners' questions included exactly what types of offenders would be housed, how the security staff would be trained and whether crime rates have gone up in cities with similar programs.

Representatives from both firms declined to give a full presentation of the facility, saying they preferred to wait until the second hearing to make their case. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER/

Gary Szymanski, president of the Sunray Farmers Association,

negotiates with others on who would speak against the facility.

KEYWORDS: PROPOSED JAIL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY by CNB