THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Earlier this week the Virginia Department of Corrections initiated the latest in a long list of crackdowns aimed at reforming the state's prison system. And what a list it is.
In the two years since Gov. George F. Allen took office, Virginia has all but abolished parole, billed prisoners for medical and dental care, confiscated prisoners' money for court costs and fines, monitored their phone conversations and restricted inmate visitation.
The newest regulations are aimed at limiting prisoners' personal property. As of Jan. 1, inmates could no longer own musical instruments, typewriters, tape recorders or T-shirts in any color other than white. Most jewelry, except watches valued at less than $50 and plain wedding rings, had to go.
Officials said these regulations are aimed at curbing contraband and reducing fire hazards. Critics said the rules were designed to dishearten and discourage the 25,000 men and women behind bars in Virginia.
``They're taking away everything they possibly can from these people and they're giving them no hope,'' charged Jean W. Auldridge, chairman of the Virginia chapter of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants.
Yet the Allen administration has good reason to crack down on contraband. Although corrections officials said no single incident sparked the personal-property restrictions, they are still red-faced from the apparent presence of a loaded revolver in a condemned man's typewriter on death row seven months ago.
Prison officials cannot tolerate weapons in correctional facilities and are right to take whatever steps are necessary to keep them out. But it's difficult to see how colored T-shirts or wedding rings inlaid with gems pose a danger to inmates or officials.
In fact, the prospect that her husband would have to remove his wedding ring so infuriated one inmate's wife that she accused the prison system of ``messing with the sanctity of . . . our marriage''
Many would argue that the sanctity of marriage has nothing to do with jewelry and was damaged more by the spouse who broke the law than by wardens who would remove his ring. But corrections officials surely do not wish to weaken the already strained family ties prisoners have to the outside.
In their zeal not to appear to be coddling prisoners and to prevent any embarrassing repeat performances of the gun-on-death-row drama, state corrections officials should avoid acting in petty and arbitrary ways when they institute new rules. If an atmosphere of discipline and good order can help inmates on the road to rehabilitation, a daily dose of harassment can have the opposite effect. by CNB