NCJ Number
122982
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 52 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1990) Pages: 82,170,190
Date Published
1990
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Virginia Governor Gerald Baliles, who began his 4-year term in 1986 believing that the expansion of a few prisons would suffice, has initiated $232 million in construction projects that will increase prison capacity by 44 percent.
Abstract
After becoming governor, Baliles was faced with a legacy of flawed prison inmate projections coupled with an unprecedented growth in arrests and sentences, although the crime rate had leveled off. Baliles announced the construction of two prisons instead of the expected one. One would contain 1,200 cells in Greensville County, and the second would provide 500 cells in Buchanan County. No sooner had construction of these two prisons begun than Baliles announced in mid-1988 that he was authorizing a $31 million emergency expenditure to address crowding in jails caused by a backup of felons in jails awaiting transfer to State prisons. The expenditure would allow the transfer of approximately 1,600 inmates from jails to prisons. During the 1989 session of the General Assembly, the administration was back with a $33 million appropriation to expand four field units to accommodate an additional 800 inmates. Much of this unanticipated spending resulted from a lack of long-term correctional planning during the previous 8 years.