Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA LaFAY LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Ignoring arguments that a $106 million compromise prison-building package would "gamble with the lives of Virginians," the House of Delegates on Thursday approved the compromise and sent it to the desk of Gov. George Allen.
Thirteen Republicans broke ranks to support the compromise, which was otherwise endorsed along party lines. Approved by the Senate last week, the bill was heralded by its supporters as a more fiscally responsible, "pay-as-you-go" approach to the state's prison overcrowding crisis.
It allocates money for seven new work camps and 1,087 additional beds at four existing prisons, and it includes site selection and planning money for three new adult institutions and two juvenile ones.
The compromise also sets aside $6 million to send 500 more inmates to prisons out of state. One hundred fifty inmates were transferred to a Texas prison last week.
Allen's proposed budget had called for a $408 million bond package to pay for the construction of seven prisons in the next five years. Confronted now with a compromise he dislikes, he has the option of proposing an alternative bill before the General Assembly wraps up business on Saturday. If he does not, he must sign, amend or veto the compromise bill by the time the lawmakers return to Richmond on April 5.
The bill was a final setback for a major Allen initiative in a legislative session that also saw the defeat of the governor's efforts to push through an income tax cut and reduce funding for many state programs. Allen said last week that failure to fund his prison project will "put the commonwealth on a collision course destined to end in federal court orders requiring Virginia to release dangerous criminals early into our streets and neighborhoods."
On Thursday, Allen's secretary of public safety, Jerry Kilgore, denounced the compromise package and accused Democratic legislators of avoiding "honest debate" and playing "hard and loose with the facts."
"Obviously, some members of the General Assembly are willing to sacrifice the safety of Virginians at the altar of political expediency for a short-term political victory," Kilgore said.
The General Assembly's decision to approve only planning money for the proposed new prisons will cause a "significant delay" in construction and force Virginia to keep state inmates in city and local jails in violation of its own laws, Kilgore said.
But supporters of the compromise dismissed Allen camp pronouncements as "politics" and "fear-mongering." Allen wanted full funding for several prisons which do not yet have approved sites, they said, and it would be ridiculous to borrow money for the projects without sites.
Compromise supporters also pointed to several facilities - approved and funded in past sessions - that remain unbuilt. And they argued that Texas, which launched a massive prison construction project in recent years, now has extra space.
"Because the governor's budget has been so soundly rejected, this is one area where he's trying to get points," said Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville, who introduced the compromise bill on the floor of the House on Thursday. "And he's not letting substance stand in his way."
"We've approved eight prisons since 1990," said Jackson. "We've got six more under construction and planning. Add this [compromise bill] to it, and that's $620 million worth of authorized projects. We don't need more."
Those who spoke against the compromise bill referred to its approach as "pray as you go," and warned that it would imperil Virginians by providing insufficient prison space in which to cage the state's dangerous criminals.
"I don't want to gamble with the lives of Virginians because we don't want to put up enough money," said Robert Marshall, R-Manassas.
Dissenters also complained about the bill's failure to include a $15 million allocation for a maximum-security prison planned on Red Onion Mountain in Wise County and money for a similar facility in Big Stone Gap.
But the Red Onion project, which was approved and funded to the tune of $52 million in 1992, has yet to get off the ground. Deed problems and difficulties with the quality of soil on the site - originally a coal mine - eventually may kill the project. The compromise package allocates $12 million to determine whether the site is suitable for a prison, but transfers the original $52 million allocation to pay for the construction of a second prison in Sussex County.
The Big Stone Gap prison - which Allen had proposed to build for $54 million - now will be built by the Big Stone Gap Redevelopment and Housing Authority and then leased to the state. The compromise bill erases the $54 million Allen wanted for the project and instead allocates $100,000 to plan the leasing agreement.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB