DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170498

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEPHEN KIEHL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   81 lines

REGIONAL JAIL ON TARGET TO TAKE INMATES IN '98 PRISON DESIGNED TO HOUSE 875 INMATES, BUT CAN EXPAND.

The cells, complete with sinks, toilets and mirrors, are in place.

The walls of cold cement are more fortified than they look: built-in metal bars ensure that no one can get through.

And the heavy red pneumatic doors now sit idle, waiting for the installation of computers that will control.

After almost two years of construction, the smooth-looking gray structure looming off Elmhurst Lane is almost finished. The buildings, or pods, are four stories of heavy concrete, interrupted only by tiny slits for windows. They don't exactly radiate warmth.

Then again, they're not supposed to. This is, after all, a jail.

But Roy Cherry, superintendent of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority, insists that this is no ordinary jail. It's a state-of-the-art facility with advanced security features. There will not even be a fence around the perimeter of the 38-acre site near Tower Mall in Hattonsville.

The $66 million Hampton Roads Regional Jail should be completed in mid-January 1998 and will be ready for occupation by mid-March, Cherry said, adding that the project is now 75 percent to 80 percent finished.

A recent tour of the jail, which will hold inmates from Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Portsmouth, revealed that while much of the basic structure is complete, a lot of interior work still has to be done.

The central support building and the eight, square inmate buildings that branch off of it look just about complete from the outside. They are even getting their first coat of white paint. To give the jail more of an officelike appearance, a small space under each 5-inch-high window will be painted dark green, Cherry said.

Inside, the thick glass that separates inmates and their guests in the visitation room has been installed.

Drywall is going up in the administrative offices.

But the concrete floors are cluttered with tubes, wires, wood beams and assorted parts. About 200 workers buzz about the dusty site.

Cherry said he has not received a single complaint about the construction from nearby residents. The 386,606-square-foot jail will not pose a danger to the community, he added. ``This is not part of the state prison system,'' he said. ``The inmates that will occupy this facility are inmates that otherwise would be in those four member jurisdictions' city jails.''

Three of the eight pods - or 336 of the 875 beds - will be reserved for female inmates. Inmates who need special medical attention also will be sent to this jail because it will have a medical center with a full-time staff of 30. The jail also will hold people waiting to go to trial, and those with short sentences.

``Some of the types of inmates that are especially burdensome to local jails are inmates that require special separation or special supervision or management,'' Cherry said. This jail should better be able to handle such inmates, he said.

The jail will utilize modern technology to ensure security. The jail will be divided into four security zones, and movement will be monitored by direct staff observation in the pods and by camera surveillance, said Lt. Col. David Simons, assistant superintendent of the jail.

``It's secure and effective because of the modern layout and construction,'' Simons said.

The initial plan is to have one person in each cell, Cherry said, but this jail will not be immune to overcrowding problems that have plagued other local jails. If necessary, the cells can be double-bunked. That would mean an inmate population of more than 1,500.

If even more beds are needed, there is space for a 50 percent expansion, which would add four inmate pods and more than 400 beds, Cherry said. If still more beds were needed, the site could accommodate an additional eight pods. Any expansion, though, would have to be approved by the Portsmouth City Council.

The Hattonsville Civic League, though originally opposed to the jail, has learned to live with it, said the league's president, Sylvester Brown. ``It's coming along, so we have to accept it,'' Brown said. ``So far (the developers) are living up to their promises.''

When fully operational, the jail will have a staff of about 310 people, including 230 uniformed correctional officers. The medical and food services will be contracted out. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

The Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth now has eight pods for

inmates, but more pods can be added, with the council's approval.

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