THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 13, 1996 TAG: 9607130176
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 164 lines
By the close of 1997, Hampton Roads will have about 1,500 new beds to house city jail inmates - the result of major additions to Norfolk and Chesapeake jails and completion of a four-city regional jail.
The first addition, Norfolk's jail annex, is scheduled to open in November, followed by Chesapeake's in January.
The largest project is the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth. That building will add 876 beds to the area's capacity when it is done in December 1997.
And still, with all the new cells, there won't be enough to meet the growing demand.
``They're so overcrowded that if the (regional) facility came on line today it would be completely full,'' said Roy Cherry, executive director of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority. ``When this regional jail is open, they'll still have more inmates than authorized beds. . . . We've kind of become accustomed to being severely overcrowded.''
The jail construction project in Norfolk will provide 317 beds in an eight-story jail addition.
But it is Chesapeake's project, scheduled to add 320 beds by January 1997, that boasts the most innovative design and philosophy. Inmates there will be monitored by ``direct supervision,'' which means no bars or glass will separate the inmates from sheriff's deputies. The program is designed to improve rapport between inmates and deputies, partly by lessening the ``us vs. them'' mentality that often exists in correctional facilities.
Across the nation, there has been a similar boom in jail construction over the past half-dozen years as localities scramble to house a growing number of inmates.
But a 1995 Virginian-Pilot survey of local and regional jails statewide showed that the average jail exceeded its rated capacity by 85 percent. And Hampton Roads' jails were among the most overcrowded.
Part of that overcrowding was caused by the state's failure to remove from local jails felons who were sentenced to at least three years in state prison.
For instance, Norfolk's jail routinely houses 1,250 to 1,300 inmates in space rated for 579. Chesapeake handles 450 to 500 inmates in space rated for 213.
Besides the two large additions and the regional jail, the Portsmouth sheriff's department will add a few more beds in a small work center project at the public works compound near Frederick Boulevard and Interstate 264. That new building, scheduled for completion in August or September, will house 64 inmates instead of the 35 now housed in a trailer.
Here is a look at the new facilities:
CHESAPEAKE:
A visit to the Chesapeake Jail, a work in progress, reveals a spacious lobby with white columns that reach up 1 1/2 stories and plenty of windows.
The entrance is topped with what looks like a wave, a curved ceiling that crosses the lobby - all designed to fit in with the nearby civic complex.
The idea was to make the jail look more like an office building, says Steven Defelippi, an architect with NBBJ in Columbus, Ohio.
Construction of a separate annex with another 72 beds will start in September and take about 10 months. That project and the main addition will cost about $27 million. Contracts with the federal government to house prisoners are expected to cover 70 percent of the construction costs.
The annex will allow the sheriff's department to expand its work-release programs and do a better job of teaching inmates a work ethic.
``It will give our judges some alternatives they don't have right now,'' said Sheriff John R. Newhart. ``We'll be able to put a lot more of our inmates in more responsible positions, paying court costs and supporting their families. The community is going to get a much better person once they get out.''
The renovated jail is designed to accommodate up to 900, officials said. The kitchen and medical facilities can handle as many as 1,200.
The new addition will group minimum-security and medium-security cells into pods of about 40 inmates each. Each of the eight pods has up to 10 rooms housing up to four people each, forming a semicircle around an officer's station.
Such designs are considered less labor-intensive because deputies can supervise more inmates, since they don't have lengthy patrols.
A new jail in Alexandria was the first in Virginia to use direct supervision. It opened in 1987. Soon after, the number of assaults dropped, even though the inmate population rose, authorities said.
Arlington also used direct supervision in a new jail that opened in 1994. Visits there guided Chesapeake officials in bringing the philosophy to Hampton Roads. Arlington deputies also are providing training to the Chesapeake staff.
Newhart said another visit, to a Florida jail that uses direct supervision, helped to sell him on the idea.
``The place was clean, neat, well-organized, well-disciplined,'' he said. ``You didn't hear any yelling or cussing. It was a perfect operation. . . . It's a new concept that's worked well in other areas. I think it will work well in Chesapeake.''
Inmates hate it because they can't ``get away with anything,'' said Lt. Col. David Newby, who is working closely on the construction project.
Newhart said he recognizes that some inmates will not do well under direct supervision. They will remain in the existing facility, which will be renovated, or they will be moved to several maximum-security cells to be built in the new addition, to be called ``super max.'' Prisoners to be housed in those cells will be moved by two deputies and must put their hands through the bars to be handcuffed before they are moved.
During his 27 years in office, New-hart has been an innovator with many programs, including work release, a program to help crime victims, and an auxiliary department. The new jail, which has taken seven years to complete, is another first for the area.
Chesapeake's addition is also equipped to defuse one of the most common complaints from inmates: cold food. Each cell grouping will have equipment to heat food right before it is handed to inmates, said Investigator John M. Downs, a Chesapeake police spokesman.
An underground tunnel will one day link the jail to a new courthouse, which is still in the planning stages.
NORFOLK AND REGIONAL JAILS:
Officials planning the Hampton Roads Regional Jail, in Hattonsville near Tower Mall off I-264 at Victory Boulevard in Portsmouth, considered direct supervision but decided it wouldn't be best for the mix of inmates they expect.
``It was a close decision,'' said Cherry, the jail authority's executive director. ``We expect to have inmates who need more management.''
The regional jail, with a price tag of about $66 million, will serve Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton and Newport News. Each city has agreed to pay for a certain number of beds: Norfolk and Portsmouth 250 each, Hampton 175 and Newport News 200.
There is little to see now at the work site. But once complete, the jail will have a centralized support building with four-story housing pods on each of three corners. From an observation post, a deputy will be able to see the first and mezzanine floors.
In Norfolk, the jail addition will feature a combination of traditional linear construction with ``direct observation'' pods in which a deputy will watch inmates from a control room.
There will be no keys in the $22.5 million jail. Instead, jailers will run the operation from graphic panels using a touch screen, said Lt. Col. Bill Partain. All the doors are pneumatic rather than electro-magnetic, meaning air opens them. The doors have fewer moving parts and a tighter fit, making it tougher to slip contraband through.
A gym will occupy the seventh and eighth floors. That's considered a big improvement for a jail virtually devoid of recreation facilities. Each floor also will house a multipurpose room, and there will be an infirmary on the third floor for women and on the eighth for men.
The jail will include the full range of minimum-, medium- and maximum-security cells.
The lobby's yellow brick walls are already up. One day soon, the jail's green-blue tile floors will be in place. Cinder-block cells and hallways have been painted a cream color with navy-blue baseboards and trim.
The project remains on schedule, despite a partial building collapse a year ago.
As Partain gave a recent tour at the work site, he recognized two familiar faces among the workers. They exchanged greetings. The two men were once inmates he had guarded at the existing jail.
``Glad to see you two out of trouble and that you've got a job,'' Partain said. ILLUSTRATION: The CHESAPEAKE JAIL will add 320 beds to the 213 it
has now. The current population is 450 to 500.
The NORFOLK CITY JAIL will add 317 beds to the 579 it has now. The
current population is 1,250 to 1,300.
The HAMPTON ROADS REGIONAL JAIL in Portsmouth will be rated for 876
beds when it is completed in late 1997.
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
The Virginian-Pilot
This ``direct observation'' pod, under construction in an addition
to the Norfolk jail, will allow deputies to watch inmates from a
control room, at far right. The eight-story section will add 317
beds to the jail, which is now rated to hold 579 but holds close to
1,300. by CNB