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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 7, 1995                   TAG: 9503070124
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

MORE PRISON INMATES TO DOUBLE UP IN CELLS

About 10 percent of Virginia's prison inmates will have new cellmates by midyear, and most future cells will be built for at least two people, the state's public safety secretary said.

Jerry Kilgore, who oversees the Virginia Department of Corrections, supervises Gov. George Allen's parole abolition plan, which went into effect Jan. 1. The plan is expected to make crowding at Virginia prisons and jails even worse.

Kilgore told an audience at a Richmond peace forum Sunday that single prison cells soon would be rare.

He said many prisoners had been living one to a cell, while local jails were forced to cram three inmates into a cell. Beds freed up by the new plan will make room for some inmates who belong in state prison, but are backed up in city and county jails, he said.

Some legislators and prisoner-rights advocates have complained that the policy will lead to packed, tense and dangerous prisons.

But Kilgore said tighter quarters have not led to a significant increase in violence.

by CNB