Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409260019
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The governor dismissed the disturbance as ``no big deal'' and said it would hardly hinder passage of his $1 billion plan to abolish parole and lengthen sentences for violent offenders.
Inmates at the maximum-and medium-security prison set paper on fire in a cellblock, then ripped down small fences in an exercise yard after they were evacuated from the building.
The uprising was brought under control in about three hours.
``The disturbance is an early warning sign,'' said Julie McConnell, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia, which opposes the no-parole plan. ``This is only the beginning of the problems we're going to have. ... It's going to be disastrous for Virginians.''
Legislators, most of whom have signed on to Allen's plan, said they were not surprised that an inmate uprising occurred the same day they convened for a special session on abolishing parole.
``A lot of the ex-convicts indicated to me that if parole were abolished, there were going to be disturbances,'' said Sen. Benjamin Lambert, D-Richmond. ``That's the word on the street.''
Del. David Brickley, D-Woodbridge, chairman of a House committee that oversees prisons, said he was concerned about prison conditions. His Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee was unable to visit Dillwyn Correctional Center recently because it was under a lockdown, he said.
``We've got double-bunking going on all over the prison system to begin with,'' Brickley said. ``I signed on to the governor's bill; I'm a co-patron. But we just want to make sure we're doing it right, or we're going to have a tremendous problem.''
Sen. Richard Holland, D-Windsor, whose district includes the prison, said he had received letters from inmates upset about the plan.
``I'm not terribly concerned about the security,'' Holland said.
Allen said he did not know whether the disturbance was related to the special session.
``Don't ask me to understand the criminal mind,'' he told reporters.
The Greensville uprising followed a disturbance at the Dillwyn prison a few weeks ago and threats of trouble at other facilities, said Lillian Abrams, assistant director of the Virginia Alliance of State Employees. About 2,500 of its 3,000 members work for the Department of Corrections, she said.
Abrams said the alliance would like a study of the plan's effect on prison employees.
``The stress level is going to go sky high. It's already getting higher because the inmates are feeling the crunch of the proposal,'' she said. ``They've cut back on parole.''
After Allen's appointees took control of the state Parole Board, the rate at which paroles were granted fell from about 40 percent of those who were eligible to about 5 percent.
by CNB