Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9509050030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The New River Valley Regional Jail Authority thought that corrections officials had approved 50 percent funding for a 240-bed jail for Pulaski, Giles and Grayson counties and the city of Radford, with core facilities allowing easy expansion to 600 beds.
The authority learned Friday that the state now wants core expansion limited to 400 beds.
State officials also have reversed themselves on the use of local jails to support the regional facility.
Participating localities originally planned to close local jails. But the state says those jails should be renovated for use for short-term prisoners. Regional jail officials reluctantly agreed to go along with that. Now, the authority has been told that the state will not fund such a renovation "due to costs for operation and staffing."
"Are we still dealing with the same people?" asked Grayson County Administrator Don Young.
"We're kind of back to square one," agreed Assistant Radford City Manager Bob Lloyd, authority chairman. But he recommended accepting the state agreement to meet the deadline for getting the regional jail included in upcoming corrections funding.
"I don't think we're locking ourselves in at all. I still think we can go back and fuss about it a little bit," Lloyd said. "If we can show them where we can save them money, I don't see how they can not approve that."
Authority members are confident that it will be necessary to expand the jail to 600 beds in the near future, especially if other localities decide to participate as local jail costs rise. It would be far less expensive to have the core in place with original construction than to completely build it later.
A letter from J. Michael Howerton, local facilities operations chief for the Department of Corrections, also noted that the state would not reimburse the region for costs of electronic video arraignment of prisoners. The authority believes that video arraignment will save money that would have to be spent transporting prisoners from the jail to their home localities.
Limited use of local jails, to hold prisoners who are likely to be free on bond within hours of their arrests, also makes sense to the authority. Lloyd said he believes that all these changes are "concessions we can come back and revisit" in future negotiations with corrections officials.
by CNB