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VA: Despite Halt in Bed Rentals, Va. Strains to House Inmates

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

By Anita Kumar Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 22, 2008; C05 RICHMOND -- Even though Virginia halted a program to rent 1,000 prison beds to other states last week, it still needs to build six prisons in the next six years to keep pace with its escalating inmate population. A recent report to the secretary of public safety projected that Virginia will add about 1,000 prisoners a year, resulting in an inmate population of 44,700 by 2013. Each new prison would cost an estimated $100 million to build and $25 million a year to operate. "That's a projection of what's going to be required. We don't have a choice,'' said Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), chairman of the Virginia State Crime Commission. "It's the way it is." Despite the state's looming prison bed shortage, the Department of Corrections had planned to rent out 1,000 beds over the next two years to offset $38 million in budget cuts...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on June 22, 2008 (boomark / email).