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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 23, 1994                   TAG: 9409230124
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CROWDING SPARKS FIRES, FIGHTS AT ROANOKE JAIL

Authorities attribute the increased number of disturbances to an overcrowding problem that has grown worse since August, due mostly to a backlog of inmates who have not been transferred to state prisons.

In the letter this week to state Department of Corrections Director Ron Angelone, a Roanoke legislator accused the department of violating state law by failing to move inmates from local jails to prisons within 60 days of their sentencing dates.

"Our jails are in a desperate situation because of overcrowding caused by your department's unlawful refusal to comply with the statute," Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, wrote in the letter to Angelone.

In Roanoke, the most tense situation came last Friday night, when a group of about 16 inmates took over a pod, or cellblock, in the jail's fourth-floor maximum security area.

The inmates set several small trash fires on the pod floor and used newspapers to cover up television monitors and windows so jail officials could not monitor their actions. "They were banging on the walls and making lots of noise," said Maj. George McMillan of the Roanoke Sheriff's Office.

"I'm not going to call it a riot, but it was the next thing to one," he said.

The inmates, who were congregated in the pod's day area at the time, refused to return to their cells. A force of about 20 sheriff's deputies entered the pod and restored order, McMillan said.

Officials say the disturbance was just the latest example of growing unrest in the jail, where inmates often sleep on floors and are packed two and three into cells designed for one.

While most of the fights have been between inmates, McMillan said, there have been several incidents in recent weeks in which guards were assaulted by prisoners.

"We've just been real lucky not to have had anything more serious," McMillan said, "because it's a powder keg here."

Since Monday, when the General Assembly began a special session to consider abolishing parole in Virginia, there have been several disturbances in prisons and jails. Some have speculated that the incidents were in response to Gov. George Allen's proposal to end parole and increase sentences for violent and repeat offenders.

But McMillan attributed the recent incidents in the Roanoke jail to tensions caused by overcrowding.

In recent days, the jail has been averaging about 530 inmates. About 150 of them are serving sentences of three years or more, meaning they should be transferred to the Department of Corrections.

The backlog has been blamed in part on a more conservative Parole Board, appointed by Allen, that is less inclined to release inmates. Last year, about 40 percent of inmates eligible for release were paroled. In recent months, under the new board's watch, that figure has dropped to 5 percent.

Officials from the Allen administration and the Department of Corrections have said they are taking steps to reduce the backlog. The opening of new prisons and plans to double-bunk in existing facilities are expected to ease the burden on jails, they say.

But relief has been slow in coming, McMillan said.

In his letter, Woodrum said it was "unacceptable" that Angelone promised legislators in a committee hearing this week that the Department of Corrections will resolve the situation by 1997. "I would think it a matter of utmost urgency that you undertake immediate steps to bring your office in compliance with the law," Woodrum wrote.