THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310525
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 52 lines
The Virginia Correctional Center for Women has ordered inmates to turn in their personal clothing and to start wearing denim uniforms that resemble men's prison garb.
In a memo dated May 24, the prison said: ``Be advised that only dark blue denim pants or dark blue denim Bermuda style walking style shorts, chambray (light blue cotton) colored shirts and grey sweatsuits will be the approved uniformed clothing items permitted to be purchased as personal clothing.''
The notice, from assistant warden Kathryn B. Dickerson, orders prisoners to dispose of all unauthorized clothing by June 30.
``When you dress a woman like a man, you take away her femininity,'' said Goochland inmate Marguerite Richardson. ``Should women act like men, or is it in the future that human beings treated like animals will respond like animals?''
Inmates now may have 10 blouses, sweaters or T-shirts and 10 dresses, skirts, pants or jumpsuits. The new rules permit five shirts and nine denim pants. Dresses are forbidden, except for work-release inmates.
Corrections Department spokesman David Botkins said he did not find it odd that dresses were off-limits to women prisoners.
``It's not as much trying to dress them like men as much as for security reasons to distinguish staff from inmates,'' said Botkins. Many of the staff wear uniforms but some clerical employees and other wear civilian clothes.
If inmates are allowed to keep personal clothing, they could wear it beneath a uniform, ditch the uniform and escape, Botkins said.
The Goochland prison has no fence, and the last walkaways were in 1990. Botkins declined to comment Thursday when asked why fences weren't built if security is a concern. He said the uniforms are necessary because the Goochland prisoners ``are convicted felons. We're not running a sorority house out there.''
Other women in Virginia prisons have worn uniforms since 1994.
The state will issue all inmates three pair of pants, three shirts, three panties and three bras free of charge, Botkins said. Inmates who want a full wardrobe or better-quality denim will have to buy it themselves or ask relatives to pay for the uniforms.
The Goochland prison, built in the early 1930s, has about 740 inmates and is the state's largest women's prison.
Prisoners said that in addition to personal clothing, they were told to turn over typewriters. The discovery of a gun in the typewriter of death row inmate Willie Lloyd Turner shortly after he was executed in May 1995 resulted in typewriters being banned from men's prisons.
KEYWORDS: PRISONS VIRGINIA INMATES
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