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  Virginia's prison population forecast to rise 
 
 

 
"Virginia's prison population forecast to rise"
To house estimated 6,700 more inmates by 2013, state builds, expands sites
The Richmond Times Dispatch
Monday, Jan 07, 2008
By Frank Green TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Since 1990, in response to rising crime, predictions of rising crime and tougher sentencing, Virginia has approved 21,000 new prison beds at a cost of more than $1 billion. Barring the unexpected, more prisons are in Virginia's future.
By 2013, Virginia's prison population is expected to grow by 6,700 men and women to 44,700. A half-dozen major prison projects -- costing roughly $300 million -- are planned, under way or have been recently completed.
 
  As of June 30, 2007, there were 38,007 state inmates -- 32,651 in more than 40 prisons, field units, work release centers and one privately run prison. The rest were held for the state in local and regional jails. The Virginia Department of Corrections, now the state's largest agency with more than 13,000 employees, manages a population of felons larger than the cities of Manassas, Petersburg, Fredericksburg or Winchester. "More offenders are being committed to prison, and they are incarcerated, on average, for longer periods," Deputy Secretary of Public Safety Barry Green said.
The department's annual budget topped $1 billion this year for the first time. Virginia, however, is not imprisoning its residents at a rate higher than other states.		  
  According to the most recent federal figures available, 472 men and women were in prison for every 100,000 Virginians. The national average was almost 500. Virginia's per capita spending on prisons ranks 20th among states and its crime rate 37th. Officials say that the equivalent of a new prison is needed for every 1,100 additional inmates. Each such prison costs roughly $100 million to build and $25 million a year to operate. After the 2010 completion of a new prison in Grayson County, more prisons will be needed if the forecast for 2013 proves accurate. However, the Department of Corrections and others caution that it is difficult to predict five years ahead.
Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, says, contrary to popular belief, Virginia prisons are not holding many, if any, nonviolent, first-time property or drug-ossession offenders. "These prisons are basically full of very bad guys," said Albo, chairman of the Virginia State Crime Commission and the House Courts of Justice Committee. "The public policy choice is, do you think they should be in prison or out in the neighborhoods?" "If you think that they should be in prison, you're going to have to build the prisons," he said. "It's going to require building one prison a year. I don't like that fact. But I think that spending a hundred million a year to keep violent criminals and drug dealers out of my neighborhood is worth it."		  
  According to state figures, violent offenders are forming a growing part of the prison population. Since 1994, the percentage of violent offenders in state prisons has increased from 69 percent to 79 percent (with burglary counted as a violent offense). But critics, including Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project in Washington, insists Virginia and other states are imprisoning many people who are not dangerous public-safety risks. Mauer agrees that there are few first-time, nonviolent offenders in prisons. "The question is, even if somebody is there because they're a secondor third-time car thief, is that still the best way to spend $25,000 a year?" he said. "We should be looking at other intensive supervision options in the community that can be far less costly than incarceration and arguably more productive in keeping the offender in the community," he said. Mauer contends that "it's not a question of prison or do nothing -- it's what else could we do as an alternative [to prison] that both protects the public and changes behavior in a less costly way." While the numbers are sobering, in some rural areas prisons are a welcome source of employment. It is, however, a hardship for those in the urban eastern and northern parts of Virginia who have friends or relatives in far away prisons.  
  In addition to the growing number of state prisoners, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is considering putting 1,000 nonstate inmates into state prisons through 2010 as a way to help save $19 million a year. Less than a decade ago,Virginia had more than 3,000 surplus beds -- roughly one-tenth of the system's total capacity -- and rented them to other states and the District of Columbia. Those inmates are long gone, their bunks filling up with Virginia criminals. Cells were available to rent, in part, because Virginia built prisons in the mid-to-late 1990s anticipating a crime wave that did not occur. Instead of climbing as predicted, violent crime here and across the U.S. dropped dramatically from 1993 to 2000. However, from 2000 to 2006, the number of violent crimes in Virginia rose by 8.1 percent. (While the rate of violent crime per capita remained largely steady, the total number of violent crimes rose at least as fast as the population in general.) At the same time, the number of arrests increased by 14.3 percent. Also, the number of individuals sentenced to prison each year rose 42 percent, from 9,183 to 13,071.
  
 
 
     
  Nearly half of the inmates entering Virginia prisons violated terms of their probation. Most committed a new crime, but 15 percent to 20 percent had technical violations, such as repeatedly failing drug tests. The Kaine administration, other policymakers and the Department of Corrections are trying to keep freed prisoners from winding up back behind bars as a way of cutting the need for more prisons. Not only are the number of prison admissions rising, but with the end of parole and new sentencing guidelines for crimes committed on or after Jan. 1, 1995, the length of time served by inmates has been growing, particularly for violent and repeat offenders. All totaled, as of June 30, 2007, one of 44 adult Virginians were in prison, jail or under state or local probation supervision. "If we have to build more prisons to keep our citizens safe, we should do that," said Green, the deputy secretary. "But if we find better ways to prevent reoffending, we should act on those first."  
 
Virginia Prison Systems
Prison
Location
Capacity
Level
Open
   Prison
Location
Capacity
Level
Open
1. Augusta Correctional Center
Augusta
1,120
3
1986
   23. Indian Creek Correctional Center
Chesapeake
1,008
2
1994
2. Baskerville Correctional Center
Mecklenburg
488
2
1962
   24. James River Correctional Center
*Goochland
764
2
1896
3. Bland Correctional Center
Bland
652
2
1946
   25. Keen Mountain Correctional Center
Buchanan
922
4
1990
4. Botetourt Correctional Center
Botetourt
352
2
1960
   26. Lawrenceville Corr. Center (private)
Brunswick
1,578
3
1998
5. Brunswick Correctional Center
*Brunswick
910
3
1982
   27. Lunenburg Correctional Center
Lunenburg
1,194
2
1995
6. Buckingham Correctional Center
Buckingham
1,084
3
1982
   28. Marion Correctional Center
Smyth
226
Spec.
1958
7. Caroline Correctional Unit
Caroline
138
1
1965
   29. Mecklenburg Correctional Center
Mecklenburg
740
Spec.
1976
8. Central Virginia Correctional Unit
Chesterfield
285
1H
1971
   30. Nottoway Correctional Center
*Nottoway
1,280
4
1984
9. Proposed private prison
Charlotte
NA
NA
NA
   31. Patrick Henry Correctional Unit
Henry
138
1H
1967
10. Coffeewood Correctional Center
Culpeper
1,204
2
1994
   32. Pocahontas State Corr. Center
Tazewell
1,024
3
2007
11. Cold Springs Correctional Unit
*Augusta
264
1H
1953
   33. Powhatan Correctional Ctr.
Powhatan
1,315
3
1926
12. Deerfield Correctional Ctr.
Southampton
1,080
2
1994
   34. Pulaski Correctional Center
Pulaski
426
2
1955
13. Deep Meadow Correctional Center
Powhatan
762
Spec.
1989
   35. Red Onion State Prison
Wise
848
6
1998
14. Dinwiddie Correctional Unit
Dinwiddie
130
1H
1950
   36. Rustburg Correctional Unit
Campbell
153
1H
1969
15. Dillwyn Correctional Center
Buckingham
1,114
2
1993
   37. Southampton Correctional Center
*Southampton
1,050
3
1938
16. Fluvanna Corr. Center for Women
Fluvanna
1,257
3
1998
   38.St. Brides Correctional Ctr.
Chesapeake
1,192
2
1973
17.Grayson prison
Grayson
1,024
3
2010
   39. Sussex I State Prison
Sussex
1,216
5
1998
18.Green Rock Correctional Ctr.
Pittsylvania
1,024
3
2007
   40. Sussex II State Prison
Sussex
1,282
4
1999
19. Greensville Correctional Center
*Greensville
3,399
3
1990
   41. Tazewell Correctional Unit
Tazewell
138
1H
1963
20. Halifax Correctional Unit
Halifax
248
1
1955
   42. Virginia Corr. Center for Women
Goochland
588
2
1931
21. Haynesville Correctional Center
Richmond Co.
1,156
2
1993
   43. Wallens Ridge State Prison
Wise
1,212
5
1999
22. Haynesville Correctional Unit
Richmond Co.
114
1
1959
   44. Wise Correctional Unit
Wise
114
1H
1964
 
 
*Capacity includes adjoining correctional work centers SOURCE: Virginia Department of Corrections
 
  Prison security levels  
  Level 1 -- (Low): Among other things, inmates must not be serving time for firstor second-degree murder, sex offenses, kidnapping or abduction, felonious assault, flight or escape, carjacking or malicious wounding.
Level 1 -- (High): Inmates must not be serving time for firstor second-degree murder, sex offenses, kidnapping or abduction, and have no escape history or disruptive behavior for the prior two years.
Level 2: For inmates with no escape history within the past five years; those with single life sentences under the old parole law (crimes committed on or before Dec. 31, 1994) must have reached their parole eligibility date; no disruptive behavior for at least two years prior to consideration for a transfer to any less-secure facility.
Level 3: For inmates with single and multiple life sentences and life sentences plus additional years sentences must have served 20 consecutive years of their sentence. No disruptive behavior for at least two years prior to consideration for a transfer to any less-secure facility.
Level 4: For long-term inmates serving single and multiple life sentences and life sentences plus additional years. There must be no disruptive behavior for at least two years prior to consideration for a transfer to any less-secure facility. Although the requirements for levels 4 and 5 are similar, inmates in level 4 prisons have greater opportunities to participate in programs, jobs, movement throughout the facility, visitation and phone access.
Level 5: For inmates serving long terms of single and multiple life sentences and life sentences plus additional years.
Level 6 -- Maximum security: The most restrictive prison. For inmates serving long terms of single and multiple life sentences and those who are disruptive, assaultive, have severe behavior problems, exhibit predatory-type behavior or are escape risks. Red Onion State Prison in Wise County is the state's only super-max facility.
Spec: Special function prisons, such as intake and classification facilities.

SOURCE: Virginia Department of Corrections 		 
  New and recently completed projects  
  9. Private prison proposal: The Department of Corrections is considering a proposal for a privately operated medium-security prison of undetermined cost and size in Charlotte County. The only private prison currently in Virginia is Lawrenceville Correctional Center, which houses roughly 1,500 medium-security state inmates.
12. Deerfield Correctional Center expansion: A $22 million project that added 600 beds in dormitory-style units and other facilities, including a new medical unit was completed in January 2007. Deerfield houses geriatric inmates.
17. Grayson prison: Ground was recently broken for a 1,024-bed, medium-security prison near Independence in Grayson County. The $100.5 million project is scheduled for completion in 2010.
18. Green Rock Correctional Center: A $73.5 million medium-security prison with 1,024 beds opened in May in the Pittsylvania County town of Chatham.
32. Pocahontas State Correctional Center: A $69 million medium-security prison with 1,024 beds opened in September in Tazewell County.
38. St. Brides Correctional Center replacement project: A $32 million project that includes dormitory-style buildings and other facilities was completed in November. The 800-bed project replaced an older facility at the site. 		 
     
 
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