THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409220421
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MARC TIBBS
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
During his campaign for office last year, Norfolk Sheriff Robert McCabe was quick to point out the shortcomings of his predecessor, David K. Mapp.
In 12 years in office, Mapp had presided over a crumbling jail, a foundering administration and a demoralized corps of deputies.
Much of that contributed to Mapp's demise - he's now selling sofas and ottomans at a local furniture store.
McCabe, meanwhile, is learning firsthand the frustrations of running a city jail. It's the kind of job you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.
When prisoners revolted Monday night by setting fire to trash and bed linens, and throwing bodily waste on sheriff's deputies, I'm sure McCabe couldn't help thinking what a nightmare it is to be head honcho at the hoosegow.
Officials eventually put down the revolt, but there's hardly anything McCabe or anyone else can do to guard against a repeat.
The jail, with more than 1,300 inmates, is at more than twice its capacity. Even if the state were to remove the inmates it houses there, Norfolk's jail still would house twice as many inmates as it should.
Federal officials last month gave McCabe 90 days to come up with a plan to reduce the inmate population and six months to actually make the reductions. The clock is still ticking, with no real solution in sight.
A 317-bed addition to the jail won't come on line until 1997, about the same time as the proposed regional jail in Portsmouth. Norfolk's 250-bed allotment at that facility still won't be enough to substantially ease overcrowding.
Yet, ``getting tough on crime'' has become a politician's mantra, and the one common phrase on the lips of constituents.
But where do we put all those newly incarcerated criminals, and at what cost?
McCabe is looking at the idea of a floating barge to house some inmates, and he's studying whether ``spring homes,'' tentlike domiciles, can be used in Met Park or on city-owned land near the airport for work-release prisoners.
That's hardly the image we want to send to visitors on flights approaching Norfolk International.
``Nobody really has the answers,'' said the sheriff. ``The state needs to build more space and the localities need to build more space.''
The federal crime bill calls for more prisons, but the states still have to match any federal funding. And, as an investment, building new jails hardly yields a return.
There's talk of more penal privatization and bail reform. An antiquated bail system, said McCabe, sometimes forces him to hold prisoners who can't raise as little as a $25 bail.
Things are likely to get worse before getting better. If parole abolitionist Gov. George Allen is successful at ending early prison releases, more prisoners will remain in state lockups, making less room for those state inmates who are languishing in local jails.
It's a tinderbox with sparks all around.
McCabe says he's surprised Monday's uprising didn't happen sooner.
And so, I'm sure, was ex-sheriff Mapp. MEMO: Got a comment or a complaint? Call Marc Tibbs' INFOLINE number. Dial
640-5555 (245-5555 from the Peninsula) and enter category 6272 (MARC). by CNB