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

DATE: SATURDAY, November 25, 1995                   TAG: 9511280006
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press|
DATELINE: ZION CROSSROADS                                LENGTH: Medium

BUILDING OF 5TH WOMEN'S PRISON TO BEGIN

The Department of Corrections will begin building its fifth women's prison next month in northern Fluvanna County to double its space for female inmates.

The $48.8 million prison will open in the summer of 1997 for 1,200 inmates. It will have about 500 employees.

The prison will take inmates from some of the other state women's prisons and new prisoners in a projected increase of women inmates, a Corrections Department spokeswoman said. It is planned to house minimum-, medium- and maximum-security inmates.

It will be built along on U.S. 250, where the department ran a field unit for minimum-security inmates from 1952-91. The prison compound will take up about 23 acres inside a perimeter fence on the 108-acre property.

The project hasn't been without controversy. Corrections officials explored building the prison in the Fork Union area in the southern end of the county, but some residents there opposed the idea. County voters in February 1994 rejected a referendum that would have supplied water for the project.

The prison will need an estimated 250,000 gallons of water a day, corrections officials say. The current plans call for water to be drawn from Mechunk Creek at peak flow times and to be stored for later use.

Although county supervisors are satisfied that the department has accommodated most of their concerns about the project, there is a lingering concern about the water supply, supervisors' Chairman Len Gardner said.

``We're not confident there will be enough water to meet their needs over the long term,'' he said.

Willie Gentry, Virginia Department of Transportation resident engineer for Louisa, said his department and corrections people are still discussing the use of the highway right of way along U.S. 250 for a pumping station and water pipeline.

The Corrections Department will conduct an information session at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Fluvanna County Administration Building in Palmyra.

by CNB