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| Local officials tout benefits |
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The Western Virginia Regional Jail will open for operation Friday. The new facility will serve Franklin, Montgomery and Roanoke counties and the City of Salem. |
Monday, March 2, 2009
When the Western Virginia Regional Jail near Dixie Caverns opens Friday, local officials will be breathing a sigh of relief.
Not only will the regional facility relieve overcrowding in the Franklin County jail, it will mean less man hours spent by deputies transporting prisoners, said Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt.
"During the months of December and January, we logged 15,340 miles transporting inmates to other facilities," Hunt said. "This consumed 613 man-hours, or the equivalent of two people, full time, doing nothing but transports."
Hunt said the largest population of prisoners are now held at the Middle River Regional Jail in Staunton, which is a 220-mile round trip, a journey that was made by county deputies 37 times in December and January.
"Our current situation is tenuous," said Rick Huff, county administrator, "because, beyond our own facility, we are operating on a space-available basis with jails as far as two hours (drive) away. The regional jail was our most cost-effective alternative to assuring that we will have a place to hold the inmates we are legally responsible for."
Franklin County decided to join Montgomery and Roanoke counties and the City of Salem to build the regional jail about four years ago. The joint effort was chosen because the state has a policy of reimbursing 50 percent of capital costs for regional facilities.
That means the three counties and one city will share in paying about $46.8 million of the $93.6 million total cost of the facility.
"Nobody wants to build jails," Huff said. "But we had to do something."
Franklin County's jail was built in 1937 and certified to hold 49 prisoners. The county is currently responsible for about 200 inmates in 12 different facilities around the state and has no guarantee that those facilities will have beds available if the county needs them, Huff said, adding that prices to house prisoners "fluctuate at will."
The county plans to keep its existing jail open to house about 60 pretrial and workforce prisoners.
"Our additional cost once the regional jail is opened this month will be almost as much as the cost associated with Windy Gap Elementary School (a new school set to open this fall), but the ribbon cutting (for the jail) will not be nearly as appreciated," Huff said.
"Again, this was another long-term project that we have been planning for a number of years," said Hunt, who is a member of the regional jail board. "It is a shame that it hits us in the middle of the current budget crisis."
"The regional jail is yet another example of the many needs in our community that the board of supervisors has planned for," said Charles Wagner, chairman of the board of supervisors. "I'm thankful for the fiscal planning that has been done to accommodate this facility to meet our legal requirements (for housing and being responsible for prisoners)."
The ribbon cutting for the regional jail is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday at the jail, located off Interstate 81 at the Dixie Caverns exit. |
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