Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993 TAG: 9301050222
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FAST ACTION URGED ON JAIL CROWDING
Sheriff Alvin Hudson told Roanoke City Council on Monday that overcrowding in the city jail has reached a crisis and something must be done to alleviate the problem."I've done all that I can do," Hudson said. "We're going to have to lock the front door and not let in any more [prisoners]."
Several council members agreed that the city can't keep delaying action on the need for more jail space.
Even if the state won't move its prisoners out of the jail or help pay the cost for more jail space, they said, the city must take quick action.
"We need to address this as an emergency situation. It is a dangerous situation," said Councilman James Harvey.
Harvey told City Manager Bob Herbert that he won't vote for any more building projects until the jail overcrowding problem has been solved.
The jail has a rated capacity of 216 inmates, but has housed more than 500 on some weekends.
Herbert told council that Hudson and other officials have developed three alternatives.
Herbert didn't elaborate. But one option, which previously has been reported, calls for the conversion of an adjacent records-keeping building into a jail annex at a cost of $6 million to $7 million. It would provide space for 220 additional inmates.
Consultant architects and engineers say Datasafe's building at 330 W. Campbell Ave. could be converted. Datasafe, a business records management company, is willing to sell its building.
Even if council decides immediately to buy the building and convert it to jail cells, Hudson said, it would take 20 to 24 months to complete the project.
Another option would be to construct an annex near the existing jail at an estimated cost of $10 million to $12 million.
Herbert told council members that he will lay out the alternatives for them to consider at their financial planning session next week.
Harvey said the city might have to sell bonds to finance the jail project, but he's willing to do that.
"I'm afraid someone is going to get hurt over there [at the jail]," he said.
Harvey said he also is worried that the obercrowding would cause judges not to imprison some people who should be in jail.
Herbert said the overcrowding has gotten worse because the state Department of Corrections won't move prisoners out of the jail into the state prison system.
At any given time, approximately 40 percent of the inmates in the city jail are the state's responsibility. Because of overcrowding in state prisons, the state allows more prisoners to remain in local jails.
Any felon with a sentence of more than two years is considered to be a state prisoner. By 1996, all state prisoners must be moved out of local jails within 60 days of the final court order.
At an earlier meeting Monday with the city's representatives in the General Assembly, council members appealed for state funds to help finance the jail expansion.
If the state is going to allow so many state prisoners to remain in the city jail, Harvey said, it should help pay for the expansion.
Delegate Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, said the state has its own problem with overcrowded prisons. "We've got a serious problem and a backlog of prisoners in city jails," he said.
Thomas said he will try to keep pressure on the state to move its prisoners out of the city jail.
A legislative committee for the study of financing mechanisms for jail construction is reviewing the jail overcrowding issue. In the meantime, the state has placed a moratorium on state funds for all jail projects.
Prior to the moratorium, the state paid 50 percent of the cost for jails in an amount ranging from $300,000 to $1.2 million. There was no limit on the state reimbursement for regional jails operated by three or more localities.
Council members asked Thomas and the city's other General Assembly members - state Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, and Del. Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke - to seek legislation to require the state to pay 50 percent of the cost of non-regional jails.
Although regional jails may represent a reasonable alternative for small localities, they said, the state's policy is unfair to the larger cities for which the regional alternative is not realistic.