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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 6, 1993                   TAG: 9303060322
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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PRISON EXPANSION PROCEEDING

A new, 1,000-bed prison facility in Lorton for Washington, D.C., prisoners is in the final planning stages and should be completed by late 1995, officials said Friday.

Construction on the medium-security facility, which is part of a Lorton Correctional Center expansion begun five years ago, should begin in January 1994, said Department of Corrections spokesman Walter Hill.

"We are dealing with overcrowding," Hill said. "It is a very serious problem for the D.C. correctional system."

Hill said about 8,600 inmates are housed in Lorton's seven buildings. The existing buildings were designed to handle about 7,100 offenders, so prisoners are doubled up in many cells to handle the overflow, Hill said.

Prison officials will also upgrade security systems at some of the buildings, but no buildings are scheduled to be closed.

Lorton is operated by the district government on 3,000 acres owned by the federal government, about 20 miles south of Washington.

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