THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 23, 1995 TAG: 9505230255
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Virginia officials agreed Monday to remove 46 state inmates from the city jail, prompting a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts alleging illegal overcrowding.
By law, the state must take custody within 60 days of all felons sentenced to three or more years in prison.
Roberts' lawsuit alleged that the Department of Corrections was illegally leaving such felons in his jail beyond the permissible time limit.
Because there was no space for the state inmates, Roberts said, he was forced to pay other jails up to $55 a day to take them in. The Hampton jail, built to hold 160 inmates, currently houses 301.
``We worked awfully hard to come to some kind of solution with this problem of overcrowding,'' said Roberts. ``We truly had to do something drastic.''
Virginia has ignored the 60-day law for years, but recent overcrowding in state and local prisons has caused a crisis as fewer inmates are paroled.
Sheriffs in Newport News, Richmond, Arlington County and Alexandria have filed lawsuits against the state.
According to Department of Corrections spokesman Jim Jones, there are 1,200 state inmates in local jails across Virginia.
Double-bunking in the state's prisons and the recent transfer of 455 inmates to a private prison in Texas have made space for the Hampton inmates, Jones said.
Retired York County Judge G. Duane Holloway issued Monday's order.
Earlier this month, Holloway ordered the removal of inmates from the Portsmouth city jail. Another judge has made a similar ruling in Virginia Beach.
KEYWORDS: HAMPTON CITY JAIL by CNB