DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704200099

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   45 lines

STATE TAKES 24 MORE INMATES FROM OVERCROWDED LORTON REGIONAL AND LOCAL JAIL CELLS ARE RENTED TO ACCOMMODATE DISPLACED FEDERAL INMATES.

The Virginia Department of Corrections took in 24 inmates from the Lorton Correctional Complex - nine of them murderers - last month after Piedmont Regional Jail refused to keep them, and Lorton could not take them back.

The inmates were sent to the Keen Mountain, Augusta and Nottoway correctional centers. Lorton is a crowded, 7,200-inmate Fairfax County prison operated by the District of Columbia.

``It was a crisis for Lorton, and Director (Ronald J.) Angelone did it as a favor to his colleague in the district,'' Virginia prison spokesman David Botkins said of the transfer. The inmates are to leave in May, he said.

Another 75 Lorton inmates are being held in Portsmouth and Gloucester jails. An additional 25 to 50 had been held at the Virginia Beach jail, where they were involved in fights with staff, but have since been shipped to another state.

The 24 inmates originally were held at the Piedmont jail in Farmville. The jail tried to ship them back to Lorton after they caused trouble and space was needed for Virginia inmates. But there was no room for them at Lorton. That's when the Correction Department stepped in to take the inmates.

The Corrections Department is charging the district $55 a day per inmate, though Botkins stressed the arrangement was made to help Lorton and not to make money.

The Lorton inmates have not caused problems while in the state system, Botkins said. Portsmouth and Gloucester jail officials also said the Lorton prisoners have been no more of a problem than their regular prisoners.

The 60-day emergency contract with the district began in March and will end in mid-May.

Some of Virginia's 87 local and 15 regional jails are renting cells to hold federal inmates, including those from the district. As of March 4, there were 1,052 federal inmates in Virginia jails out of a total jail population of 16,001.

Jails are run by local governments. They house defendants awaiting trial and criminals serving short terms. They are financed by the localities they serve and the state. Prisons are run by the state government and hold serious, long-term offenders.

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