DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997               TAG: 9703180334

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ZION CROSSROADS                   LENGTH:   55 lines

NEW WOMEN'S PRISON SET TO OPEN THIS AUGUST CELLS WILL HOUSE ALL LEVELS OF PRISONERS. IT WILL HAVE 1,200 BEDS, NO TOWERS.

Virginia will open a new prison this summer built specifically for women, the first such facility that the state has constructed since 1932.

``We have a unique opportunity to create a culture,'' said Patricia Huffman, a 23-year corrections veteran who was appointed last July as warden of the $53 million prison. ``We're starting from scratch and get to use all the things we've learned over the years.''

Usually, women get hand-me-down men's prisons when the female inmate population needs more room.

The new 1,200-bed prison, under construction since January 1996, will house minimum, middle and maximum security inmates once it opens in August.

Set on 30 acres along U.S. 250 in Fluvanna County, the prison won't have guard towers ringing the complex of cream-colored buildings with green roofs. Huffman said it's more efficient to install electronic fences and use roving patrols.

The prison's 78,000-square-foot medical building is a new component lacking at the state's four other women's prisons and will help reduce the escape risk, Huffman said.

``Anytime you provide services on site, you're reducing the security concerns,'' she said.

The initial population will be about 900 inmates.

Huffman, 48, got into corrections in 1974 when jobs teaching English became scarce. Her writing and people skills helped her land a position as a probation and parole officer.

She eventually became warden of the Bland Correctional Center in southwestern Virginia, where she served for four years before accepting the Fluvanna post. The Ashland native is one of three female wardens in the state Department of Corrections.

She already knows much about what her new inmates will be like.

``Eighty percent have substance abuse problems. Eighty percent are victims of some kind of abuse. Eighty percent are mothers . . . and many are without marketable skills,'' she said.

Most will serve sentences of three years or less, reducing the time for rehabilitation.

``I can give them the opportunity to use their time of incarceration, but I can't rehabilitate anyone,'' Huffman said. ``We make available the choice to make changes, whether it's to get employment skills, a better education or coping with substance dependency.''

Her current staff of six will grow to about 500 when the prison opens. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Construction workers leave a cell block at the women's prison under

construction in Zion Crossroads. The $53 million facility is set to

open in August. It is the first prison built for women since 1932. KEYWORDS: PRISON JAIL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY VIRGINIA

WOMEN

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