opinion

Va. faces a worsening prison crisis

On March 26 a violent incident occurred at the Augusta Correctional Center near Craigsville. Two male inmates with no hope of being released for a very, very long time were involved in a stabbing in the dining hall related to an alleged inside drug deal. Everyone was traumatized.

Early this year the ACC was forced to double bunk to make room for some 250 additional men being transferred there from the aging Powhatan Correctional Center in the process of being shut down. The Craigsville facility, already at full capacity, has struggled to keep enough correctional officers hired and trained to provide for its security needs.

One of the factors that contributes to a worsening security problem in Virginia's correctional system is that there is virtually no reward for any kind of "correction" demonstrated by inmates. In other words, there is no hope of early release for most of the 31,000 in prison since parole was abolished in 1995. Even for those who are still eligible for early release under the "old law" (the 4000-plus inmates incarcerated before 1995, who have been behind bars for 20-50 years) the parole grant rate is at its lowest point ever in Virginia, currently at under 3 percent.

All of this means incentives for good behavior are greatly reduced, and gang activity and a rapid turnover of correctional officers make maintaining adequate security and good prison morale a serious challenge throughout the system.

Here are two other factors that also affect prison morale and security:

1. Hourly "pay" for work inside prisons has remained at only 27-45 cents an hour for decades, and from 55-80 cents for those working in one of many Virginia Corrections Enterprises — even though their near slave-wage labor brought in a total of $54,680,835 in income for the Department of Corrections in 2013. Meanwhile, charges for canteen items continue to rise, and the costs of postage and phone service have also increased.

2. Treatment for mentally ill and emotionally distressed inmates is either unavailable or is woefully inadequate. The Marion Correctional Center in southwest Virginia, specifically designed for the estimated 40 percent of offenders suffering from mental health disorders, has beds for only 300 inmates, less than 1 percent of the commonwealth's total number of detainees. While Marion has a staff of over 200 employees and a per inmate cost of well over $80,000 annually, the Buckingham Correctional Center, by comparison, is overcrowded with 1,154 residents and has only 396 employees and a budget of just over $25,000 per year per inmate.

All across Virginia, legislators and ordinary citizens alike are beginning to realize that our present criminal justice system, which has incarcerated six times the number of inmates we housed in the commonwealth just 25 years ago, is broken and in need of serious repair. Either we continue with the status quo, or we provide national leadership in reversing the pattern of incarcerating citizens at more than five times the average rate of that of the rest of the world.

Harvey Yoder is a licensed professional counselor and minister in Harrisonburg. He originally published this essay on his blog at http://harvyoder.blogspot.com.