View the Orange County community page

Orange balks at jail proposal ABOUT THE REGIONAL JAIL

Orange supervisors refuse to consider creating regional jail authority

BY ROBIN KNEPPER

Date published: 11/27/2008

BY ROBIN KNEPPER

Orange County supervisors this week declined to consider a request from the Central Virginia Regional Jail board to form an authority to finance a $10 million expansion, but may do so next month.

Supervisor Lee Frame, the at-large member of the jail board this year, was unable to get a second to his motion Tuesday night to approve the establishment of the authority. After talking to fellow supervisors at the end of the board meeting, Frame said he believes they will approve the request at their Dec. 9 meeting.

Frame brought up the issue with fellow supervisors last month, but the lack of support for the proposal was laid to the volatile economy, changes supervisors wished to see in the agreement and the pressure from jail Superintendent Glenn Aylor.

Chairman Mark Johnson objected to Orange County losing its control over the jail. Orange owns the jail along with Louisa, Madison, Greene and Fluvanna counties.

"I have always thought the jail was a good idea and I've always supported it. The fact that it didn't cost the county any money for 17 years is a testament to how it's been run," Johnson said.

"But I think we'd be handing over a lot to the authority and not getting much in return."

Aylor told Johnson that if the establishment of the authority was not approved, "You're going to pay and you're going to pay dearly," referring to the cost to the counties.

"One of my responsibilities is not to swallow whole all you've said," Johnson said. "I'm here to represent the citizens of Orange County."

The jail board wants to add 200 prisoner beds at a cost of approximately $10 million. The jail has set aside $5 million from the rental of cells to the federal and state government but will need to finance the rest.

Establishing a jail authority to manage and operate the jail would allow the jail to sell revenue bonds.

There is a moratorium in the state on jail construction, however, so a jail authority would have to ask the General Assembly for an exemption to expand. That request must be filed by the second week of December, which is why the counties need to act quickly, jail board attorney Ron Maupin said.

So far, only Fluvanna and Greene supervisors have approved establishing the authority. Madison has a public hearing scheduled Dec. 9. Louisa County board Chairman Willie Harper said supervisors there will "most likely" take up the issue Monday.

Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net

HOW IT CAME TO BE The Central Virginia Regional Jail, on U.S. 15 in Orange County, was established in 1988. Lindsay Gordon, the Orange Board of Supervisors chairman at that time, led efforts to replace the decrepit county jail. He found that jail conditions in adjoining counties were equally dismal and supervisors in Louisa, Greene, Madison and Fluvanna counties joined Orange to build a regional lockup. HOW IT'S FUNDED The five counties put up half of the $4 million for construction and the state paid the rest. Each county also put up $15,000 to $75,000 in seed money, according to jail board attorney Ron Maupin, to operate the regional jail until reimbursements from the state and federal government started to flow in. REASON TO EXPAND Since its establishment, the jail has operated in the black without financial assistance from any of the counties, collecting fees from the state and federal government for housing their prisoners. Jail board attorney Ron Maupin noted that the federal government pays five times what the state pays, but while housing federal prisoners is lucrative, the jail is running out of space because the population of local prisoners continues to rise.

Follow us on

Date published: 11/27/2008

Most recent reader comments: