ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 28, 1996 TAG: 9609300049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press RICHMOND
Critics of parole abolition said Thursday that prison guards' complaints about dangerous conditions lend credence to their argument that longer sentences could hurt, not help, public safety.
Jean Auldridge, director of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, said the General Assembly did not heed warnings that longer sentences would heighten tensions in the prisons.
``These men are losing every bit of hope they ever had,'' she said. ``Now there are some great correctional officers and wardens, people who are really trying to do their jobs, and they are not able to.''
Don Baylor, a sergeant at the Greensville Correctional Center, cited the longer sentences as one of the reasons Virginia prisons are becoming increasingly dangerous places to work. Staff shortages also are a problem, he said.
The legislature two years ago abolished parole and imposed a truth-in-sentencing law that ensures that most incoming prisoners will serve much longer sentences.
``That makes the atmosphere that much more dangerous,'' Baylor said.
Baylor was one of about two dozen guards and former guards who met informally Wednesday with state Sens. Richard Holland, D-Isle of Wight County, and Charles Waddell, D-Loudoun County. Holland chairs the public safety subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee.
Kent Willis, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia, also was among the parole abolition and truth-in-sentencing critics when the issue was taken up in a special legislative session.
``That was one of our principal concerns, that the removal of parole killed off most of the incentives for prisoners to comply with the rules,'' Willis said. ``This would make the guards' work harder and certainly more dangerous.''
Ronald Angelone, state prison director since 1994, has faced past criticism from inmates and their families about prison conditions. But the complaints by prison guards Wednesday marked the first open criticism from Corrections Department employees.
Department spokesman David Botkins took issue with the complaints. He said morale has improved under Angelone.
``I don't know of any director that has been more vocal about supporting officers and giving them the tools, such as sophisticated nonlethal weaponry, to do their jobs,'' Botkins said.
Baylor said staff shortages require a lot of overtime. Some guards quit because of the stress and low pay, sometimes without another job to go to.
``That's just how bad the situation is,'' he said.
Henry Ford, a former Nottoway Correctional Center officer, said some Nottoway officers believe the shortage of experienced staff contributed to a hostage incident at the prison last month.
Four hostages, including two nurses, were seized by inmates during an aborted escape attempt until they could be freed in a rescue that left the hostages unharmed but injured eight officers.
Angelone led the rescue.
The director ``is constantly visiting prisons, walking the yard and talking to both inmates and staff,'' Botkins said. ``You should have heard the thanks he got from officers at Nottoway for his being there ... during the hostage crisis.''
The Corrections Department, authorized for 11,000 employees, recently surpassed the Transportation Department as the leading state government employer. The department's annual general fund budget of more than $500 million is second only to the Department of Education.
According to corrections officials, turnover among officers was 18 percent in 1995, the worst in seven years. Among first-year guards, the rate reached 40 percent, the highest since 42 percent in 1990.
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