THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070327
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Charlise Lyles
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
A is for Allen, George F., the Republican governor of our state.
B is for Bonds, $408.6 million for prison-building that he tried to push through.
C is for the Compromise - Thank Goodness! - that Democrats demanded. It whacked the $408.6 million to $180 million.
Virginia's prison-building saga is complex - politics, personalities, parole policies, inmate projections. All is further complicated or manipulated by our good governor's lock `em up logic.
What worries me is that here and across the country the ``lock `em up'' school is fueling the buildup of a criminal justice complex that rivals the buildup of the military industrial complex in the 1950s.
Prisons are becoming the mainstay, blue-collar employer that factories, steel mills, shipyards and the military once were.
In 1996-98, new Virginia prisons will provide 10,704 more beds and 2,250 more jobs. Can you name a newcomer company doing that kind of employing?
But let's try to keep this as simple as ABC. . .
D is for sentencing Disparities, between blacks and whites, both juveniles and adults, that unfairly add to the assembly line leading to prison.
E is for Education, which is where I would rather see my tax dollars go. (And as a single person, let me tell you, I pay more than my Fair share.)
But F is really for the economic Future of Virginia, which depends on educating folks.
G is for the majority of the General Assembly, which agreed with me on education.
H is for Higher education, which ought to be the priority over prison building. Consider the recent report that last year, 42 percent of Old Dominion University freshmen couldn't cut a C average. Sixty percent of those dropped out.
I is for Inmates, and I hope that 60 percent do not become. But it might be telling to track them to see whether any measurable percentage lands behind bars.
J is for Juveniles. The Assembly's upcoming reform debate determines the state's philosophy on dealing with serious youth offenders. That, in turn, will set the course or curse for more prison building.
K is for Assembly decisions that won't Keep fueling the cinder-block dragon.
L is for the Lesson that seems so hard for Virginia to learn.
M is for investing Money in education up front to save on prison dollars.
N and O are for NO-Go, which is what voters basically told Allen at the polls in November. Un-huh.
P is for Prevention. ``We've got to get into more Prevention programs and do away with this political mantra . . . that says lock them all up,'' said Del. Clinton Miller, R-Woodstock. Amen.
Q is for Questions, tough and bone-deep, that must be asked about crime and punishment.
R is for radical Republicans - that's what I call them - who need to seriously think about the answers.
S is for SEVENTEEN THOUSANDS DOLLARS A YEAR! The price we pay to house an inmate.
T is for Turner, Willie T., the death-row inmate and his Typewriter-turned-pistol-holster.
U is for that Unparalleled incident, which landed the Old Dominion in last week's issue of ``The New Yorker.''
So now V is for Virginia, the state that obviously can't manage the prisons we already have.
W is for Writer Anthony Lane at ``The New Yorker'' from whom I stole this ABC idea.
X is for ex-convicts. (So I'm cheating a bit here.) There'll be a lot fewer if Virginia puts tax dollars in the right place.
Y is for You and I who are going to have to live with the results, prisons or productive people.
Z is for the Zealousness to go after effective and inexpensive crime solutions with partisan unity and creativity, based on a fair mix of muscle and compassion. by CNB