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| Bill Strengthens Control over Private Prisons |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 02/06/2006 |
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Senate panel approved a bill that would tighten regulations of private prisons if any are ever built in West Virginia. West Virginia has about 1,200 inmates serving prison sentences in regional jails because there is no room for them in prisons, according to a Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety report to the Legislature last month. Because of that backlog, Sen. Randy White said the state needs to make sure its laws protect citizens from liability and escapes if there is a need to ask a private company to build or run a prison. "We need to be prepared," White said. Although West Virginia has had a law governing private prisons for years, the bill (SB71) clarifies that it is the state's responsibility to regulate the incarceration of all prisoners in West Virginia. The bill would require prison contractors to have a plan for the state to take control of the facility in case of an emergency and a plan to deal with crimes in the prison and escapes before any inmates move in. Current law prohibits private prisons from housing maximum security inmates from other states. The bill would also prohibit them from housing inmates with a history of escape or assaulting correctional staff. West Virginia had 272 imprisoned felons for every 100,000 residents in 2004, according to the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. Only 10 states had a lower incarceration rate that year. The national average is 486 inmates per 100,000 residents. West Virginia ranked 3rd for the growth of its state prisoner population between 1995 and last year. |
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