THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407190390
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
The chairman of Gov. George F. Allen's task force to abolish parole acknowledged Monday that the state will need at least 7,100 new prison beds in the next five years, even without tougher penalties for violent offenders.
Meanwhile, a Democratic member of the commission complained that the group isn't paying enough attention to cheaper, community-based alternatives as a way of cutting prison-building costs.
The remarks came as the group pressed toward an Aug. 19 unveiling of a parole-abolition plan that, if approved, is expected to produce the most significant overhaul of state prison procedures in decades. Lawmakers are to consider the plan in a September special session.
The task force has remained mum on the cost of its recommendations, but there are growing hints that the changes won't be cheap.
``I don't want to quantify the investment, but the governor has made it clear that there's going to be a need for more prison space,'' said Richard Cullen, a Richmond lawyer who is heading the commission. In the long run, ``it's going to be worth it,'' he said.
The 7,100-bed shortfall was projected last year, based on the already-dwindling use of parole. But that projection was made when 28 percent of the people up for parole were getting it; the parole grant rate has since dropped to 15 percent.
A subcommittee report released Monday blamed the bed-space gap on ``nothing being budgeted by the previous administration for prison construction.''
But Del. James F. Almand, one of two Democratic lawmakers on the commission, challenged that assertion. During the administration of former Democratic Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who left office in January, ``the General Assembly has approved nine new prisons totaling 7,000 beds,'' he said.
The new space will cost about $266 million, to be paid off over 20 years. Eliminating the shortfall might cost a similar sum.
The subcommittee agreed to amend the language about the Wilder administration.
The group proposed creating 10 or so prison ``work centers,'' less secure - and less costly - facilities adjacent to existing prisons.
Inmates assigned to those facilities would have to fit a nonviolent profile and undergo extensive screening before being admitted. They would be put to work on prison farms and public-works projects.
The task force estimated that 1,300 of the system's 19,300 inmates could be put to work in such centers immediately.
The subcommittee also recommended doubling up inmates in existing cells, creating 2,100 new bed spaces, and allotting 700 beds to treating inmates with serious substance-abuse problems.
The commission hasn't said how many new beds will be needed if it follows through on Allen's proposal to increase by 50 percent the amount of prison time being served by murderers, rapists, robbers and others committing violent crimes.
Almand, whose support likely will be critical for Allen, questioned whether the group is paying too little attention to alternatives to incarceration.
Henry Hudson, a former federal prosecutor who presented the report, promised that several such proposals are yet to be unveiled. by CNB