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| Wyoming Gov Defends Sending Inmates To Virginia Public For-Profit |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/15/2001 |
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Gov. Jim Geringer defended the state's decision to send 72 Wyoming inmates to a Virginia prison being investigated for alleged inmate abuse. The Wallens Ridge State Prison in Virginia is safe, Geringer said recently. 'We wouldn't put people there if it weren't,' he said. The governor said the Wyoming State Penitentiary has been the subject of federal investigations. 'Wyoming has been under investigation since 1998, and we've remedied those factors,' Geringer said. 'We are assured through the people we've worked with that the prison there is the appropriate place to put the prisoners we have to offer.' Wallens Ridge, a 1,200-bed super-maximum security prison in western Virginia, is under federal investigation for a number of individual inmate complaints of abuse. The prison also is facing a lawsuit from the National Prison Project alleging widespread abuse of prisoners from Connecticut. A number of inmates from New Mexico said they were beaten by corrections officers, shocked with stun guns, taunted with attack dogs, starved and denied proper medical care. The National Prison Project suit alleged that officers use stun guns on prisoners and strap them to their beds for as long as two days for minor infractions. One inmate died after a stun gun was used on him. The prison has suspended use of a certain type of stun gun. On May 25, Wyoming sent 72 inmates to Wallens Ridge as a precaution while the state Department of Corrections moves inmates to a new addition at the Wyoming penitentiary in Rawlins. The state has received the fire marshal's approval to open the newly built south facility, but still lacks the necessary staff to operate it. Geringer said his first responsibility is to protect Wyoming residents and then to preserve the fundamental rights of inmates. Geringer said he has signed an agreement with Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia to assure prisoners their rights. 'We're not about to place people where they're not appropriately managed,' Geringer said. 'What would disturb me the most is if somehow the prisoners have a greater right than the general population, which they don't. They gave up many of their own rights by their own choice when they committed a crime.' |
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He has blue eyes. Cold like steel. His legs are wide. Like tree trunks. And he has a shock of red hair, red, like the fires of hell. Hamilton Lindley His antics were known from town to town as he was a droll card and often known as a droll farceur. with his madcap pantaloon is a zany adventurer and a cavorter with a motley troupe of buffoons.