ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
A LAWMAKER says the lack of adequate mental health services is one of a number of alleged shortcomings. But a spokesman for the female prison says the cells in question are clean and are there for the prisoners' own or others' safety.
The Virginia Department of Corrections is operating a basement ``dungeon'' for mentally ill inmates at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women in Goochland County, Del. Marian Van Landingham says.
``One of the worst things I've ever seen is a facility - I call it the dungeon - in the basement of a high-security building ... where they have women that are in very bad mental shape,'' Van Landingham, D-Alexandria, said Monday.
The lack of adequate mental health services is one of a number of alleged shortcomings in services for women in a system designed largely for men, Van Landingham said.
Amy Miller, a spokeswoman for the Corrections Department, said the ``dungeon'' to which Van Landingham was referring is a 40-person segregation unit at the prison.
It is for inmates ``who pose management problems, are a threat to others, are a threat to themselves, are in need of protective custody, or have maximum security needs,'' Miller said.
``Although the segregation unit is in the basement of the building, it is not in any way inhumane or dungeonlike,'' she said. ``The cells are well-lit, full-sized and clean.''
But Julie McConnell of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia took exception to Miller's description. She said many of the women in the cells are psychotic and suicidal.
Inmates sent to Central State Hospital, a state mental hospital, often are sent back to Goochland within days because there is no room, McConnell said. She said the segregation area is dark and has standing water in places.
Corrections Director Ronald J. Angelone refused to allow a tour of the facility, citing security concerns.
Van Landingham and McConnell spoke at a news conference held to draw attention to the growing number of female prisoners here and across the country and the need to find nonprison punishment for many women.
``We're asking for the state legislature to make alternatives to incarceration'' for nonviolent female offenders, McConnell said.
There are 1,682 women in Virginia prisons.
In addition to the Goochland facility, female prisoners in the state are held at Pocahontas Correctional Unit in Chesterfield County, Tidewater Correctional Center in Chesapeake and Brunswick Work Center. A new, 1,200-inmate female prison in Fluvanna County is scheduled to open next year.
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