ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
The New River Valley Regional Jail Authority, which is planning to build a 240-bed facility serving three counties and one city, voted Thursday to invite Wythe County to join the project.
The authority will invite Wythe County Sheriff Wayne Pike and any other county officials to meet with the authority and discuss the possibility.
Wythe was part of the project when a variety of localities joined to study the prospects of a regional jail, but dropped out about the time a private prison company offered to build a jail as part of a 1,500-bed prison in the county. However, the state did not award a contract to that company.
"The right thing to do is to see if we can find a way to get them into our program," said Assistant Radford City Manager Bob Lloyd, who is chairman of the authority. "They were originally a member. It's a compact area. ...I see this as an opportunity to increase the benefits of the jail to everybody."
The other localities are Radford and the counties of Pulaski, Grayson and Giles.
At this point, Wythe has expressed no interest in becoming a participant in the New River Valley project. But it will have to do something about its aging and overcrowded jail, now that the corrections company will not be replacing it.
A Wythe jail committee met this week and decided to see if sheriffs in surrounding counties might have an interest in a new regional jail project. But a new project would not qualify for 50 percent state funding, as the New River project does. Lloyd said transportation of Wythe prisoners to and from the regional jail would not be a problem, because transportation costs would be paid by the jail.
Lloyd said the state Department of Corrections would have to approve Wythe being added, but he said discussions with department officials "as recently as yesterday" indicated that would be no problem.
"I think, if we could work it out, it would be good," Grayson County Administrator Don Young said. "Also, if we can get this worked out, it makes this a much better region, geographically."
"I don't see any problems, other than the cost factor," said Leon Light, the Giles County representative to the authority.
It was agreed that Wythe County would have to bear the costs of adding beds to the jail's architectural plan and any additional study costs. The four participating localities also have would to amend the agreement creating the authority to include Wythe.
The authority has secured an option on property in Dublin as a potential site, with the actual transfer of property scheduled for August. By that time, the authority will have determined if the Dublin site is suitable or will have secured another site.
If Wythe is added, the funding bill in the legislature will have to be amended this month as well as changes made to the architectural plan. "The legislature is convened for another 30 days only, so things have to happen rather quickly," Lloyd said.
Bill King, with architects Thompson & Litton, said another 42-bed pod could be added to the existing plans, increasing the total number of beds from 240 to about 280. The core facilities for the prison have been planned so they could support additional beds as the need increased.
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