Funds in Hand, New Regional Authority to Start Building Jails

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By Associated Press

Published: 05/19/2003

With financing in hand from a new bond issue, the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority will go ahead on construction of three new jails with capacity for nearly 800 prisoners.
'Things are moving rather quickly,' said Robert Raines, mayor of Norton and the authority's chairman. 'We have signed the papers, have a permanent financing plan and the bonds have been sold.'
'This is a historic event for Southwest Virginia and the whole state of Virginia,' Raines said.
Kellogg Brown & Root will build the three jails in Haysi, Duffield and Abingdon. Ground-breaking ceremonies have been set for May 22 at each site.
The Haysi lockup--on 65 acres near the county fairgrounds _ will serve Dickenson and Buchanan counties and house 145 inmates. A staff of 80 will operate and maintain the 121,000-square-foot facility.
The Duffield facility will be built on an 18-acre tract at Duffield Industrial Park. The 121,000-square-foot facility will have a staff of 100 workers and will hold 270 inmates, officials said. The Duffield jail will house prisoners from Lee, Scott and Wise counties.
The jail in Abingdon will be the largest. The 75-acre site will be home to a 365-inmate lockup serving Russell, Smyth and Washington counties. The 160,000-square-foot jail could employ about 120 workers and will serve as the headquarters for the Regional Jail Authority.
Each jail will be within a 30 minute drive from the localities it serves. Transportation costs will be paid by the regional authority, giving more savings to the localities.
The three-facility system will serve Virginia's largest jail region, covering 9.4 percent of the state's area. The inmate population is expected to be 16 percent women and 84 percent men. The jails are expected to open in 2005.
The Abingdon jail will provide comprehensive medical services, while Haysi and Duffield will provide limited services.
Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Wise and Washington counties and the city of Norton are the project partners. Low-interest bond financing made the project economically desirable, and a regional jail system also made sense as Virginia wrapped a tight fist around state dollars.
The financing consists of a little more than $61 million in revenue bonds that will mature in 2035 and nearly $38.8 million in short-term notes that mature in 2006.
The $38.8 million will be paid from a grant from the Virginia Department of Corrections under an agreement for the state to pay 50 percent of what it considers eligible costs--mostly engineering and construction.

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