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A state funding match, however, may not be available until 2013.

The Meherrin River Regional Jail Authority, formed in early 2008, initially wanted to build an 800-bed jail but has scaled back its plans to 408 beds.

The current plan consists of building a main facility in Brunswick County, near Alberta, that will accommodate the pretrial and sentenced prisoners from Brunswick and Dinwiddie as well as the sentenced prisoners from Mecklenburg. A smaller satellite jail near the government offices in Mecklenburg will accommodate the pretrial and work-release populations from Mecklenburg.

The authority last year took a $10 million loan to use toward the purchase of a 126-acre site in Brunswick County, the design of the facilities and the preliminary site work. Officials have interviewed for the architectural design and have the permits needed to launch construction.

The facilities would be built with a capacity for expansion, and one superintendent would oversee both locations. Once the replacement facilities are built, the local jails will be closed, officials said.

"We will still have to pay for the operational cost, but we won't be at the mercy of other facilities," Dinwiddie County Administrator W. Kevin Massengill said. "We will be saving money, and it just works more efficiently."

. . .

Dinwiddie's local jail -- built in the early 1970s -- houses a maximum of 64 inmates, but the county usually has more than 100 inmates per day, Sheriff B.B. "Dusty" Rhodes said.

"We need our regional jail. We are going to grow and with that growth, we are going to have an increase in crime," he said. "As far as I know, we have gone as high as 150 [inmates] and as low as 95. We have always had more than the 64 that this jail was built for 30 years ago."

On a daily basis, the county jail will house only 55 inmates because the facility is required to keep nine empty beds for arrests made overnight and on weekends.

To cope with the overflow, the county rents beds in four regional jails: Southside Regional in Emporia, Riverside Regional in Hopewell, Piedmont Regional in Farmville and Rappahannock Regional in Stafford. When those facilities are full, inmates are taken as far away as Staunton, Rhodes said.

"That runs into a great expense for the taxpayers. If we had our own regional jail, we wouldn't have to be transporting to four different areas, which is what we are doing now. We are sending deputies at 6 a.m. in the morning to bring inmates to court," he said, adding that the trips take time from deputies' law-enforcement duties.

The cost for bed rental alone at the end of the year is more than $1 million, Massengill said. Deputies' time and transportation costs are a separate tab, he said.

A trip from the Brunswick site where the regional facility is being planned to the Dinwiddie County courthouse would take about 25 minutes, compared with the two to three hours it takes now, Rhodes said.

. . .

In 2005, the three jurisdictions began to work together to address the situation and in early 2008 formed the Meherrin River Regional Jail Authority -- named after the river that crosses all three counties.

The General Assembly granted the counties an exemption to a state moratorium on prison-building, allowing them to pursue the construction of the facility. They also met all the requirements from the Board of Corrections.

"We have done everything that is required," said Wayne Carter, Mecklenburg's county administrator. "The state historically always pays 50 percent on construction and renovation of regional jails. . . . When we started, we felt fairly confident that we would get the funding. We were very surprised when we did not make the government's budget."

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine presented a budget to the General Assembly that reflects the tough economic crisis and leaves out several projects, press secretary Gordon Hickey said. He said he didn't know whether the project had been presented to the governor to be included in the budget and added that the assembly would be able to add it if it chooses to.

"The governor has to make a lot of difficult decisions," he said. "The budget is now in the hands of the General Assembly. It will come back to the governor, and he will make a decision on what to leave and take out."

The House and the Senate this month approved amendments adding the Meherrin River Regional Jail project to their respective budget bills, which are now a part of the 11-member Budget Conference Committee package.

The House amendment authorizes the construction of the project without allocating any money to it, while the Senate amendment requests that a facility of no more than 400 beds be built with construction at just one site, for which the state's share of the capital costs of construction should not exceed $50 million. Under their plan, the reimbursement of the state's portion would not occur before July 1, 2012.

Del. Rosalyn R. Dance, D-Petersburg, who supports the project and offered an amendment to the budget bill, said she hopes funding would be allocated for the project in the coming years.

The project, she said, will ease overcrowding in the local jails, and its design will provide a safer and more secure environment for inmates and guards. She is optimistic that a budget compromise will be worked out to the counties' satisfaction.

Brunswick County Administrator Charlette T. Woolridge points out that the bonds for the state's share of construction would not have to be issued until 2012 and would not affect the current two-year budget.

If funds are not allocated for the project in the current budget, construction will be delayed and local officials will try to get the funding next year.

In the meantime, Massengill said, paying for jail space will be a bigger challenge for the counties facing tight budgets under the current economic crisis.

He said the counties will continue to lobby for the state funds.

"We, as three jurisdictions, cannot afford to pay for a jail this size without the help of the state," he said.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/JAIL23_20090222-222207/213052/