Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 15, 1993 TAG: 9306150192
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Boucher said Monday that he has been meeting with the chief of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and now had a letter from him stating that the project could not go forward.
"I can say now with complete certainty that the halfway house that had been proposed by Secor for Wythe County will not be allowed to operate," Boucher said.
Secor, the private firm that had planned to operate the halfway house for prisoners nearing the end of their sentences, will not be able to meet federal requirements - including a demonstration of community support for the facility.
Boucher said the file on the project contains no evidence at all of community support. On the contrary, it contains a resolution opposing the halfway house from the Wythe County Board of Supervisors, statements from local law enforcement officials and from Boucher in opposition, and several dozen letters opposing it that Boucher had transmitted to the federal bureau.
Secor had a contract with the bureau, Boucher said, but neither he or Wythe County officials knew anything about it until word leaked out three weeks ago.
People from the Grahams Forge community around the former Trail Motel, which was to be converted into the halfway house, were joined by the county Sheriff's Department and Board of Supervisors in seeking ways to stop it.
"I am very pleased by this result in which the bureau has acknowledged its earlier error," Boucher said.
He said federal law requires that, before a halfway house could be constructed, the community involved would have to have been notified, local government and law enforcement officials would be given the chance to comment on it, and all those comments would have to be positive.
"In this case, the bureau had failed to enforce that procedure," Boucher said.
The statement from the Bureau of Prisons said that, in light of the strong community opposition and doubt that Secor could obtain proper building clearances from the county, it was clear that the bureau would not be able to pursue the facility in Wythe.
Asked about the possibility of the halfway house seeking a contract to take Virginia prisoners, Boucher said the project was apparently planned from the start for federal prisoners and there has never been any consideration of using it for state prisoners.
He said Del. Tom Jackson, D-Hillsville, has found no indication that any negotiations with the state Department of Corrections have taken place.
by CNB