County jail remains overcrowded
As many as 122 prisoners have been housed at the 20-year-old Rockbridge Regional Jail in the past month, more than twice the number of beds. The jail was not only "double-bunking," but bunking as many as seven to a cell this past week.
The crowding is not a new development, and Jail Superintendent John Higgins has been trying to correct it for several years.
Until two years ago, the jail housed prisoners from other areas of the state, and those regions footed the bill. But in 2005 the jail could no longer accommodate those other inmates because of an increase in local inmates, leaving no room for "paying guests,'"Higgins said.
The facility, built in 1988, was intended to house 56 prisoners, one for each cell. In 1990, it housed an average of 23 prisoners a day. Today, the average daily population of local prisoners has risen to 98.
Higgins went to the Jail Commission three years ago and explained that inmate growth was a problem. He recommended that the jail be expanded. The commission asked national planning firm Moseley Architects to conduct a study to show the actual growth of arrests.
The firm finished the report in February 2007. It found that the number of adult arrests in Rockbridge County increased by 167 percent from 2001 to 2006. By the year 2021, it said, 182 beds would be needed.
Rockbridge County, Lexington and Buena Vista must all pass a resolution that has been agreed upon by the Virginia Department of Corrections for expansion efforts to go forward. But when Higgins proposed the plan, Buena Vista City Council refused to consider the idea.
Instead, "They want a new study that’ll cost $100,000 for the darn same information,"Higgins said.
This year, operating the jail and housing more than 100 inmates a day will cost taxpayers in Rockbridge County $528,000, Buena Vista $158,000 and Lexington $55,000.
"If the jail isn’t expanded soon the cost to Lexington taxpayers will be double in a few years what it is now,"Higgins said.
Produced by
Washington and Lee
journalism students.
Lead Supervisors:
Prof. Brian
Richardson
Prof. Phylissa
Mitchell
Editing supervisor:
Prof. Pamela Luecke
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd