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Virginia will close four correctional facilities on July 1 and take control of the state’s only privately operated prison in August.
In a December statement, Virginia Department of Corrections Director Chad Dotson said the decision to shut down Augusta Correctional Center, Sussex II State Prison, Haynesville Correctional Unit #17 and Stafford Community Corrections Alternative Program was made to “enhance employee, inmate, and probationer safety, to address longstanding staffing challenges, and in consideration of significant ongoing maintenance costs.” In announcing his proposed biennial budget later that month, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said the closures were also aimed at “increasing operational efficiency within the Department of Corrections."
Virginia houses a total average daily population of 24,301 inmates as of October, according to VADOC data. Of that, 570 are at Augusta, 503 are at Sussex II, and 879 are at Haynesville. The Stafford facility, which opened in 1973 and served 57 individuals in October, offers substance use disorder treatment, anger management, vocational training and other programs.
Sussex I and Sussex II, both high-security facilities in Waverly, were in the “midst of a multimillion-dollar renovation” as of 2022 that included installation of temporary lock systems to secure inmates who in 2020 were able to jam their doors and leave their cells without staff approval. At the time, VADOC stated “work will begin at Sussex II once they have finished” installing new doors at Sussex I. In a January email, a VADOC spokesperson said work at Sussex I is nearing completion, while all new renovation work at Sussex II has stopped beyond routine maintenance.
Both facilities, opened in 1998, have been a financial burden on Sussex County ever since payments in lieu of taxes were cut by the state in 2010 to help weather the Great Recession. One county supervisor told CBS 6 News last year that, if restarted, the annual payment should today be about $800,000.
VADOC will also take over operations at Lawrenceville Correctional Center in Brunswick County on Aug. 1. GEO Group, which has managed the 1,536-person-capacity center since 2003, operates or owns 100 secure facilities, processing centers and community reentry centers in the United States, as well as in Australia and Africa. The Lawrenceville facility opened in 1998, and GEO took over operations in 2003. It housed about 1,260 people in October. According to the Virginia Mercury, persistent staffing shortages have cost GEO millions of dollars in state payments since 2018.
“GEO has been a long-standing partner to the Commonwealth of Virginia,” reads a statement attributed to a GEO Group spokesperson, “and we are proud of our record of managing the Lawrenceville Correctional Center on behalf of the Virginia Department of Corrections for more than two decades. We are grateful for our front-line employees who have provided high-quality services, including enhanced rehabilitation programs, to those in our care. We look forward to working with the Virginia Department of Corrections to ensure a seamless transition.”
Funding for the change in ownership is set to come from Youngkin’s proposed budget for the 2024-26 biennium, which would provide $25 million in fiscal year 2025 and $18 million in FY 2026. If approved by the General Assembly as is, it would also use $33 million to increase salaries for deputy sheriffs and regional jail officers as part of his “Operation Bold Blue Line” initiative launched in 2022. VADOC is also working to keep staff members affected by the changes employed with the department.
Several bills filed in the 2024 General Assembly session are aimed at improving the prison system. HB 555, introduced by Del. Patrick Hope, D-1st, would create the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman, which would conduct inspections of state facilities “at least once every three years and more often when warranted” and “establish confidential telephone hotlines and online forms for concerns, complaints, and inquiries.” Hope’s HB 103 would also require the State Board of Local and Regional Jails to adhere to the state’s Administrative Process Act when developing and enforcing minimum standards at local, regional and community correctional facilities.
Outside of the legislature, the jail board has issued a “compliance plan” after finding the Richmond City Justice Center violated requirements for 24-hour medical care and hourly security inspections. In a response to the plan’s requirement that corrections officers be trained on the consequences of forging public records, Sheriff Antoinette Irving said in December that training happened last summer and would happen again during the first two weeks of January. An automated security rounds system is expected to be in place by July.
