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The state of Connecticut removed its inmates from Wallens Ridge in 2001 following the deaths of two of them there. One of the Connecticut inmates died after being shocked repeatedly at the prison with a stun gun. The state of Connecticut paid $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit from his family over the incident and the state of Virginia paid $350,000.

Connecticut paid an additional $750,000 in 2002 to the estate of a mentally ill inmate who committed suicide at Wallens Ridge despite having less than a year left to serve in prison.

Bob Lampert, director of the Wyoming Department of Corrections, said Wednesday that he expects some of the state's minimum-security inmates now assigned to Wallens Ridge will be moved from the prison shortly.

Wyoming announced in March that it had contracted with Virginia to house 300 inmates, split between Wallens Ridge and another, medium-security prison in Virginia. Lampert said corrections staff have been reviewing the security classification of each inmate to see which of the two prisons would be most appropriate for them.

Lampert said it's necessary for Wyoming to house some of its male inmates out of Wyoming until the state completes construction of the new state prison in Torrington in the next couple of years. And he said Wallens Ridge will offer Wyoming inmates more educational and other programs than the private prison in Oklahoma that used to hold Wyoming's overflow prisoners.

Asked if any minimum-security inmates will be assigned to Wallens Ridge permanently, Lampert said that would be decided on a ''case by case basis.'' He said a minimum-security inmate could be sent there if they had a documented conflict with another inmate that the department had already housed at the other Virginia prison.

Lampert said his office has received letters from inmates questioning why they were sent to Wallens Ridge. He said that his office has responded to them that the classification process is ongoing.

Linda Burt, director of the ACLU in Wyoming, said Wednesday that her office has received numerous complaints from inmates' families about their relatives being sent to Wallens Ridge.

''Just basically the attitudes of the guards, that the guards are really extraordinarily tough, and angry, and that's the kind of information that we had gotten before for years,'' Burt said of the reports the ACLU has received about conditions at Wallens Ridge.

Burt said inmates' families should tell state officials, including legislators, the governor and the Department of Corrections, if they're unhappy that relatives are being held in the Virginia facility.

Lana Corcoran of Sheridan wrote a letter to the Casper Star-Tribune last month complaining about Wyoming's decision to send minimum-security inmates to Wallens Ridge. Attempts to reach her for comment on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

''Help! Please get our inmates out of Wallens Ridge Supermax prison in Virginia,'' Corcoran wrote. ''We have boys in there that were only convicted of minor offenses.''

In response to a request from The Associated Press, the Wyoming Department of Corrections this week provided a list of the number of Wyoming inmates sent to Wallens Ridge, their current security classifications and the offenses that resulted in their incarceration.

Melinda Brazzale, spokeswoman for the corrections department, said Tuesday that the department would not release the names of the 108 inmates it sent to Wallens Ridge because of security concerns.

While 16 Wyoming inmates classified as minimum or minimum-restricted were at Wallens Ridge as of Tuesday, there were only two maximum security inmates from the state there. Most of the inmates, 75 out of the 108, were classified as ''close'' and ''close-restricted,'' a classification between medium and maximum.

http://cbs4denver.com/coloradowire/22.0.html?type=local&state=WY&category=n&filename=WY--WyomingInmates.xml

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