THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240566
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 154 lines
Ignoring arguments that a $106 million compromise prison-building package would ``gamble with the lives of Virginians,'' the House of Delegates on Thursday approved the compromise and sent it to the desk of Gov. George F. Allen.
Thirteen Republicans broke rank to support the compromise, which was otherwise endorsed along party lines and passed 65-35. Approved by the Senate last week, the bill - which provided 75 percent less funding than Allen had wanted - was heralded by its supporters as a more fiscally responsible, ``pay-as-you-go'' approach to the state's prison overcrowding crisis. It allocates money for seven new work camps and 1,087 additional beds at four existing prisons, and includes site-selection and planning money for three new adult institutions and two juvenile facilities.
The compromise also sets aside $6 million to send 500 more inmates to prisons out of state. One hundred and fifty inmates were transferred to a Texas prison last week.
Allen's proposed budget had called for a $408.6 million bond package to pay for construction of seven new prisons in the next five years. Confronted with a compromise he dislikes, Allen has the option of proposing an alternative bill before the General Assembly wraps up business on Saturday. If he doesn't he must sign, amend or veto the compromise bill by the time the lawmakers return to Richmond April 5.
The bill represents a final setback for a major Allen initiative in a legislative session that also saw the defeat of the governor's efforts to push through an income tax cut and reduce funding for many state programs. Allen has insisted in a statement released last week that failure to fund his prison plan will ``put the Commonwealth on a collision course destined to end in federal court orders requiring Virginia to release dangerous criminals early into our streets and neighborhoods.''
On Thursday, Allen's secretary of public safety, Jerry Kilgore, denounced the compromise package and accused Democratic legislators of avoiding ``honest debate'' and playing ``hard and loose with the facts.''
``Obviously, some members of the General Assembly are willing to sacrifice the safety of Virginians at the altar of political expediency for a short-term political victory,'' Kilgore said.
The General Assembly's decision to approve only planning money for the proposed new prisons will cause a ``significant delay'' in construction and force Virginia to keep state inmates in city and local jails in violation of its own laws, Kilgore said. But supporters of the compromise dismissed Allen administration pronouncements as ``politics'' and ``fear-mongering.'' Allen wanted full funding for several prisons that do not yet have approved sites, and it would be folly to borrow money for the projects without sites, they said.
Compromise supporters also pointed to several facilities - approved and funded in past sessions - that remain unbuilt. And they argued that Texas, which launched a massive prison construction project in recent years, now has extra space.
``Because the governor's budget has been so soundly rejected, this is one area where he's trying to get points,'' said Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Carroll County, who introduced the compromise bill on the floor of the House on Thursday. ``And he's not letting substance stand in his way.
``We've approved eight prisons since 1990,'' Jackson said. ``We've got six more under construction and planning. Add this (compromise bill) to it, and that's $620 million worth of authorized projects. We don't need more.''
Those who spoke against the compromise bill referred to its approach as ``pray as you go,'' and warned that it would imperil Virginians by providing insufficient prison space for the state's dangerous criminals.
``I don't want to gamble with the lives of Virginians because we don't want to put up enough money,'' said Robert G. Marshall, R-Manassas.
Dissenters also complained about the bill's failure to include a $15 million allocation for a maximum-security prison planned on Red Onion Mountain in Wise County, and money for a similar facility in Big Stone Gap.
But the Red Onion project, which was approved and funded to the tune of $52 million in 1992, has yet to get off the ground. Deed problems and difficulties with the quality of soil on the site - originally a coal mine - may eventually kill the project. The compromise package allocates $12 million to determine whether the site is suitable for a prison, but transfers the original $52 million allocation to pay for the construction of a second prison in Sussex County.
The Big Stone Gap prison - which Allen had proposed building for $54 million - will now be built by the Big Stone Gap Redevelopment and Housing Authority and leased to the state. The compromise bill erases the $54 million Allen wanted for the project and instead allocates $100,000 to plan the leasing agreement. MEMO: HOW THE PLANS COMPARE
GOVERNOR'S PROPOSAL
Financed with public building authority bonds:
Seven work centers: $28,835,000
Additional beds for womens' prison in Fluvanna: $14,626,000
Additional beds for Sussex I: $16,210,552
Sussex II: $73,041,420
New beds and renovation at Mecklenburg Prison: $9,654,190
New beds for Beaumont Maximum Security Juvenile Facility: $6,386,000
Medium security juvenile facility: $11,330,000
Science Museum emergency repairs: $2,330,450
Additional money for Red Onion Prison: $15,119,947
Equipment for Lunenburg and Bland Correctional Centers: $804,500
Repairs to doors at Greensville Correctional Center: $2,765,000
Repairs to current facilities: $2.3 million
Financed with general obligation bonds:
High medium security prison in Big Stone Gap, Wise County. Site
approved: $54,369,000.
Maximum security prison in Northampton County: $85,010,000
High medium security prison in the western region. No site yet
approved: $55,891,000
Four new juvenile detention centers: $12,089,000. Only one site
approved.
Maximum security juvenile facility. No site yet approved: $20,106,000
TOTAL: $408,568,059
COMPROMISE BILL
Financed with public building authority bonds:
Seven work centers: $28,800,000
Additional beds for women's prison in Fluvanna: $14,000,000
Additional beds for Sussex I: $16,000,000
Planning for Sussex II: $16,000,000
New beds and renovation for Mecklenburg Prison: $9,000,000
New beds at the Beaumont Juvenile Facility: $6,000,000
Planning and site selection for two juvenile facilities: $6,000,000
Science Museum emergency repairs: $1,700,000
Financed from the state's general fund:
Planning for Big Stone Gap lease proposal. Lease purchase arrangement
has been proposed by the Big Stone Gap Redevelopment and Housing
Authority. Under the proposed arrangement, the state will lease the
prison for 20 years. Money saved will pay for repairs and new equipment
at existing prisons.
Site selection and planning for maximum security prison, initially
targeted for Northampton County: $100,000,000
Site selection and planning for high medium security prison with 1,382
beds. No site yet approved: $800,000
Planning for second high medium security prison with 1,382 beds. No
site yet approved: $300,000
Planning for maximum security juvenile facility with 225 beds. No site
yet approved: $100,000
Planning for medium security juvenile facility with 180 Beds at
existing state-owned campus in Bon Air, Chesterfield County: $300,000
500 additional out-of-state contract beds: $6,000,000
TOTAL: $106,100,000
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRISONS BUDGET by CNB