Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 8, 1994 TAG: 9401110257
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Charles Reed, project designer with Hansen Lind Meyer, a Florida-based consultant, outlined plans for the facility so supervision could either be direct, with the guard in a dormitory or cell with prisoners, or indirect, where the guard is isolated from the cells being watched.
``I believe that what I'm picking up is that most of us here would feel more comfortable with a jail facility where the supervision isn't direct,'' said Assistant City Manager Bob Lloyd.
That was putting it mildly. ``If you put a female jailer in with six sex offenders, it's not going to work,'' Carroll County Sheriff R.D. Carrico said of the direct plan. ``And you can't discriminate.''
Reed said the cost might be slightly higher for a jail that separates prisoners from guards because more secure walls would be required for each unit in the jail, but the overall square footage would be unchanged.
``I don't allow a jailer to go into a cell block by himself,'' Carrico said.
``I don't, either,'' said Giles County Sheriff Larry Falls.
Bob Cooper with the Virginia Department of Corrections settled the matter when he said state standards do not allow a correctional officer to go into such situations alone, in any case.
The regional, as it is now planned, would serve Radford and the counties of Pulaski, Carroll, Giles, Grayson and Floyd. It would have 360 beds, including medical and special care beds, but Reed said the consultants recommend building administrative facilities for 600 prisoners at the start.
He said it would be difficult to add administrative facilities later, but relatively easy to add another housing pod for prisoners.
The study committee wants to get its plans to the state by March to make sure they are included in the 1994-96 state budget, while the state is still paying half the construction costs of regional jails. The state's share will be reduced after this biennium.
Preliminary estimates by Hansen Lind Meyer and Thompson & Litton, a Roanoke-based consulting firm, place construction at more than $20 million, and operational costs at more than $3.8 million a year.
James Matthews, assistant executive secretary with the state Compensation Board, said the state would approve salaries for a maximum of one correctional officer per three prisoners. That would be about 120 officers for the 360 planned for the regional jail.
Matthews said Virginia has nine regional jails with three more coming on line during the 1994-96 biennium. He said the Compensation Board is supportive of regional jails because they are cost-efficient.
The study committee wants to make sure there are positions at the regional jail for the 75 officers now working at the six local jails.
by CNB