Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250006
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: G1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"They're cutting aspects of education and then increasing the prison budget, building prisons and everything," he says. "That seems somewhat short-sighted to me. Education is the future; we need to support that."
David Simmons, a retired police officer who lives in Roanoke County, feels the same way. "If you take a budget and build more prisons and you're cutting education, what are you telling the people? What are you telling the people?" He thinks the state is telling young people "they will need a prison to go to because they have no future."
The farmer from Prices Fork and the retired policeman from Fort Lewis won't be on the ballot this fall, but their views on state spending may make a difference anyway when Virginians go to the polls in November to fill all 140 seats in the General Assembly.
McDonald and Simmons are just two of a growing number of Virginians who express queasiness about one of the hallmarks of Gov. George Allen's administration and one of the key planks of the Republican platform this fall - building more prisons.
A Virginia Tech survey this year found Virginians sharply divided on the subject of prison building.
Thirty-three percent said the amount the state spends on prisons is about right, while 28 percent believe the state isn't spending enough and 24 percent feel the state is spending too much.
On no other subject did so few Virginians think state spending was on target, and on no other subject did so many Virginians think state spending was too high.
The trend line may be even more significant. The percentage of Virginians who think the state is spending too much money on prisons has risen steadily for the past four years, while the percentage who think state spending is inadequate has generally held steady.
A more recent Virginia Commonwealth University survey turned up similar sentiments.
When voters were given a series of choices last month to make about spending priorities - education, higher education, road building and prison building - they consistently ranked education first and prison building last.
Pollsters say Virginians are trying to send the politicians a message. "They're not as ready to put money into jails as they are education," Virginia Tech pollster Deborah Collins said. "This is something we're uneasy about. 'Where's the talk about education?' They have other areas they are concerned about."
If politicians haven't gotten the voters' message, they may have gotten the one delivered a few weeks ago by one of the state's most influential business leaders - Northern Virginia developer John T. "Til" Hazel Jr.
Hazel has organized a group of other high-profile Virginia business leaders to warn that the state's public colleges and universities, a favorite target of state budget cutters over the past half-decade, are in danger of falling into mediocrity, endangering the state's business prospects in the process.
Hazel's group is calling for legislative candidates to commit to a 25 percent increase in funding for higher education - about $200 million per year - to rescue a state college system that now ranks 42nd in the country in direct per-student support.
That's not all. At the Richmond news conference that launched his initiative, Hazel singled out for criticism "the huge sums" the Allen administration is spending on prison building. "The priorities have to be reconsidered," Hazel said.
Allen loyalists say it's wrong to draw a connection between the state's accelerated prison-building program - so far, prison projects costing more than $1 billion have been set in motion - and deep cuts in state funding for colleges and universities over the past five years that have sent Virginia tuitions soaring to the third-highest in the country.
"That's just using scare tactics," said the administration's point man on prisons, Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore. "It's just not a fair comparison."
"The two are totally separate issues," echoed Newell Falkinburg of Roanoke, a Republican candidate for the House of Delegates.
Nevertheless, in a series of round-table discussions with ordinary voters that The Roanoke Times and its sister paper in Norfolk, The Virginian-Pilot, sponsored across the state this summer, people such as McDonald and Simmons were quick to make the connection on their own between prison funding and education funding.
Now, Democrats - sensing a chance to blunt the Republicans' drive for control of the General Assembly - are picking up on what those voters are saying. They've started to argue that the Allen administration is more interested in locking up criminals than in educating kids.
John Edwards, the Democrat challenging state Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, describes the administration as being on a "prison-building binge." House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, warns that Allen wants to "saddle" the next generation with an onerous debt for prison building that could be avoided. Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, zeroes in on the cost overruns at one proposed prison at Wallen's Ridge near Big Stone Gap. "They're just wasting money," he says. "Wallen's Ridge is almost 100 percent over budget. Think of the universities that would build - $100 million. [The price tag has since been cut to $77.5 million.] You can build a brand-new degree-granting institution for that."
A few GOP legislators, such as Fincastle Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, are warning that Republicans need to recast their message or risk giving Democrats an opening to portray them as anti-education. "I think there's that potential," Trumbo says. "We as Republicans have allowed the Democrats to steal away from us the education issue."
Many Republicans already have signaled that they're prepared to wage a big part of their fall campaign on prison building, anyway.
Allen himself fired the opening shot at the state sheriff's convention last month, blaming the Democratic-controlled legislature for its "refusal" to build sufficient prison space. "The choice we face is fundamental and clear: More prison construction or the early release of violent criminals," Allen said.
The warning that "lenient" judges soon may start letting murderers and rapists go free is now the standard Republican line. "Not that I care that much about overcrowded conditions," says Trixie Averill, the Republican challenger to Cranwell. "They are, after all, criminals. We don't want them in country-club conditions. But if we don't [build more prisons], the federal government will be breathing down our necks."
Steve Newman, the Republican candidate for the state Senate seat that covers Bedford County, unleashes the strongest rhetoric of all, contending that the Democrats' "ultimate goal" is to let prisoners go free.
But the debate over prison building that's developing on the campaign trail - with Democrats charging that Republicans would rather build prisons than schools while the Republicans portray the Democrats as soft on crime - may obscure the real differences between the two sides on the issue.
\ Those differences come in three parts.
There's a dispute over whose projections to believe on how many prisoners Virginia will need to house.
There's a dispute over how to pay for prisons - and when to pay for them.
Finally, there's a more fundamental dispute over the values they bring to the discussion - the Democrats emphasizing prevention, the Republicans stressing punishment.
First, the projections.
How much prison space do we need?
Virginia has about 27,000 prisoners it's trying to fit into 22,300 beds - sometimes by doubling up inmates in the same cell. sometimes by shipping them to Texas.
A June study by the staff of the Senate Finance Committee - a panel controlled by Democrats - projects Virginia's prison population by 2001 to be 42,898.
But Kilgore prefers to look to 2005, when he says Virginia's prison population will have nearly doubled to 52,000 prisoners
The Republicans don't dispute the Democratic projections; they just say they don't look far enough into the future. They also talk about how longer sentences and the abolition of parole will drive up the prison population, especially after 2001 when the effect of tougher sentences will be felt first.
Democrats, instead, talk about moving many nonviolent offenders out of prisons into alternative forms of punishment. In short, the Democrats aren't impressed by the Republicans' projections for 2005. "The projections are all over the lot," Woodrum says.
Therein lies the debate. Republicans warn that we don't have enough prison space now and are in danger of falling further behind when their 2005 projections are borne out; Democrats say enough prison construction has been set in motion that, by 2001, the state will have a surplus of 929 beds, and that might be all the state needs for a while.
How and when should we pay for prisons?
During this year's General Assembly session, Allen wanted permission to borrow more than $400 million for prison building. Democrats gave him $181 million with a mix of borrowing and cash.
That was enough to complete 4,851 prison beds and draw plans for 5,523 others.
The difference between what Allen asked for and what the legislature gave him comes down to four facilities - a maximum-security prison, two high- to medium-security prisons and a maximum-security juvenile detention center.
Allen wanted the legislature to authorize bonds to pay for planning and building all four; the Democrats instead gave only enough cash to draw the plans, warning that it doesn't make good fiscal sense to borrow the entire amount.
Democrats generally agree that Virginia someday will need those four prisons. "I suspect some of those beds will eventually be needed," Woodrum says, "but probably not all at once."
Democrats, however, warn that Virginia should go slow. "We could overbuild if we're not careful," Cranwell says. "That's why we need to be careful."
Besides, Democrats complain that the administration hasn't spent the money it's already been given. Fifteen prison projects authorized - and funded - as far back as 1992 haven't been started yet. In all, Virginia has funded almost $278 million worth of prisons that haven't been put under contract yet.
Cranwell says once the administration draws plans for the four additional prisons and picks sites, the legislature will be ready to authorize the borrowing to build them. That, he says, is the "customary" way building projects are done in Virginia. "There is not a lack of money and commitment," Cranwell says. "The biggest problem is they don't know how to build a prison."
Republicans counter that prisons are tricky to build and require a lot of planning. Kilgore blames previous Democratic administrations for some of the delays and local governments for others. Whatever the source of the delays, he says he's taken steps to speed up the planning.
The key, Kilgore says, is for Virginia to make a long-term financial commitment to build all the prisons it needs. "We've got to stop stringing things along. In the past 20 years, we've said, 'Here's a few dollars here, and we'll catch you at the next session.' We need to make a commitment."
What's the harm in waiting to fully fund the prisons until construction is imminent, as the Democrats propose? "The harm is the uncertainty," Kilgore says. "Unfortunately, during this campaign, some are again questioning the need for all the prison space, and we've had this debate."
Kilgore wants to get the four prison projects fully funded so the administration can come back in 1997 and ask for funding for six more facilities - totaling $350 million and adding 5,483 beds. Those - along with four private prisons adding 5,000 beds - will be necessary to meet the administration's projections for Virginia's prison population in 2005.
In effect, Kilgore suggests that future General Assemblies might not go along, and thus leave Virginia in the lurch. Authorizing the bonds now won't cost Virginia any money, he stresses; the bonds can't be sold until the project is put under contract.
Democrats say that's the point. If the money's not needed now, why authorize it? "The Allen administration's position [that] we ought to authorize it because a future General Assembly might not is completely fallacious," Woodrum says. "Future General Assemblies ought to have the flexibility."
Republicans have a different take on the matter. "They're trying to make it sound like fiscal conservatism on their part," Averill grouses about the Democrats. "It's total hypocrisy. They're willing to play games and take risks with our public safety. It's all a power thing as far as they're concerned."
Prevent crime or punish crime?
To a certain extent, the details don't matter. The fundamental disagreement between the two parties is one of values, and whether prisons are a good way to fight crime.
Democrats would rather spend money on crime-prevention programs, such as the "community-based" policing now in effect with Roanoke's COPE unit, which blankets high-crime areas with officers on the beat.
Woodrum complains that Republicans "are saying we're going to sit around and wait for a crime to be committed and then crack the offender. But we need to find ways to prevent the offender from offending."
Republicans counter that much crime is committed by repeat offenders. "Let's face it," Averill says. "There is a hard-core criminal element. Yes, we should still have prevention and programs in schools to bring 'em up in the straight and narrow. But the fact is people do go bad. I believe prisons are a deterrent. If you don't have retribution at the end, you've got anarchy."
\ Politically, Republicans admit that prison building can be a tough sell. "Not a lot of people get excited about it," Kilgore says.
But he points out that the same polls that rank prison building low show that voters give a high priority to fighting crime. In the VCU poll, 67 percent of those surveyed said fighting crime should be a critical priority for state government; that's 6 percent more than said education should be a critical priority.
Republicans need to remind voters that more money for prisons is part of crime fighting, Kilgore says. "I think you can see this become a big issue in the fall, mainly from the commitment issue," he says. If Democrats aren't willing to back Allen's prison-building plan, that's proof they're not committed to fighting crime, he suggests.
By itself, that might be a powerful argument, says political analyst Bob Holsworth, who directed the VCU poll. But many voters seem to be framing this year's choices differently - framing them instead as a choice between prisons and education.
That's how Patricia Radcliffe, a Roanoke educator, framed it in one round-table discussion about what Virginia needs to do to make the state a better place to live: "We need to put children first. And this standby business, building prisons, I think is ludicrous. Why in the world do we build more prisons to put children in when we can't educate our children? We have schoolrooms with no books; we have some schools with not enough teachers; we have some people teaching in conditions that are horrible."
And that's how Jane Baum of Virginia Beach framed it in a similar discussion on the other side of the state: "We should quit putting little Band-Aids on little issues and just fix the problem, go to the root of the problem. And I believe the root of our problem in Virginia is our educational system is not up to par nationally or internationally. We don't need prisons if you put more money into the education system, because you will get the kids interested in other things besides crime."
Exasperated Republicans believe that conclusion - that prisons and schools are an either-or proposition - is superficial, and they worry that Democrats are exploiting voters' misunderstandings. "I don't think they really have a firm grasp on it," Averill says. "It's perfectly acceptable to have more than one priority, and our priorities are prison building and public safety and education."
Perhaps so, Holsworth says, but the key to this fall's elections could be how successfully both parties deal with voters' impressions of the costs and benefits of prison building. "It's very clear," Holsworth says, "you do not want to be seen as anti-education."
Staff writers Dan Casey, Richard Foster, Todd Jackson, Brian Kelley, Kimberly N. Martin contributed to this report.
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