THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602280366
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
The Virginia Senate on Tuesday killed a bill that would have guaranteed journalists the right to enter state prisons to interview and photograph willing inmates.
Under the current policy, the Department of Corrections denies almost every such request in a form letter asserting that ``the presence of outsiders, photographers and reporters impedes prison staff from dealing with other more important priorities.''
The prison access bill, originally sponsored by Del. William P. Robinson Jr., D-Norfolk, would have allowed reporters and photographers inside the prisons, but would have given wide discretion to Corrections Director Ronald Angelone about the circumstances and rules surrounding such visits.
The bill was passionately denounced on the Senate floor by half a dozen lawmakers, some claiming the bill would allow ``violent murderers'' to ``call press conferences to complain about. . . not being able to watch their favorite TV shows,'' ``compromise security,'' and force ``victims and the parents of victims'' to watch talk shows featuring Virginia murderers discussing their methods and motives.
``I would suggest to all of you that they (the inmates) had their chance to tell their stories in a court of law,'' said Sen. Martin E. Williams, R-Newport News. ``I would suggest to those who think our jails are full of victims, they're not. They're full of predators.''
Only two senators - Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond, and Sen. Joseph V. Gartlan, Jr., D-Fairfax - argued in favor of the bill, which was defeated 30-10. Marsh insisted that ``the citizens of Virginia have a right to know what's going on inside their prisons,'' and Gartlan argued that the bill simply legislated existing policy.
Those who opposed the bill did so by turning it into a prisoners' rights issue, said Robinson. ``It's not a prisoners' rights issue. It's a public access issue,'' he said.
Del. Jay DeBoer, D-Petersburg, who helped Robinson draft the bill, expressed bitterness after its defeat.
``Let's be clear about this,'' he said. ``The administration wanted this bill dead and it got its way. The administration wants little scrutiny into its prisons by the media and by the legislators.''
Two other states - California and Illinois - also have functionally banned journalists from prisons. Both are facing legal challenges.
Jenni Gainesborough, of the National Prison Project in Washington, agreed.
``If the politicians in Virginia believe what they're saying, they clearly have no understanding at all what's going on in that system, and they need to go into the prisons along with the journalists,'' she said.
The Prison Project is besieged by Virginia inmates seeking help, said Gainesborough.
``They are denied visiting, their medical care is atrocious or negligent or nonexistent, their property is taken from them. . . But it's much easier to stand up and grandstand about murderers giving press conferences than it is to look at and deal with any of the real problems in the system,'' she said.
Virginia currently has 43 prisons housing 24,851 inmates, Department of Corrections spokesperson Amy Miller said Tuesday. Nine more prisons are under construction. Gov. George F. Allen has asked for $577 million to operate the Department of Corrections during the current biennium.
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