University of Virginia Library

Construction To Continue

Court Halts Penitentiary Funds

By PARKES BRITTAIN

On May 29, 1970, Governor Linwood
Holton announced on television that the
state of Virginia would undertake
construction of a $3.7 million penal
facility at Green Springs, four miles from
Interstate 64 in Louisa County.

The Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration (LEAA), a division of the
United States Justice Department, had
awarded $775,000 for the project as part
of a $4.15 million block grant to the state
of Virginia.

The LEAA did not specify a site for the
project when the funds were allocated and at
the time of the grant, no site had been chosen.

Residents of the Green Springs area
embodied in the Green Springs Association
filed suit against Otis L. Brown, director of the
State Department of Welfare and Institutions,
Clarence M. Coster, and Richard W. Velde,
associate administrators of the LEAA
demanding a halt to the project and claiming
that the proposed facility would irreparably
damage the historical setting and ecology of the
area.

U.S. District Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr.
refused to enjoin the state from building the
facility or to block the LEAA from providing
financial assistance.

Mr. Merhige reasoned that the Safe Streets
Act, which prevented federal control of state
spending of grants under the act, "took
precedence" over the National Historical
Preservation Act since the former was passed
more recently and more accurately reflected

the mood of Congress.

Mr. Merhige also argued that the Safe Streets
Act overruled the National Environmental
Policy Act because the Streets Act required the
agency to make grants while the Environmental
Act said they should be followed as closely as
possible.

On August 23, of the year, the Green
Springs Association, which has raised some
$30,000 for legal expenses largely from tours of
the homes in the area, appealed Mr. Merhige's
decision to the Fourth District Court of
Appeals.

Appellate Decision

On November 9, the appellate court made
public their decision which temporarily blocked
the use of federal funds for the penal facility,
but the three-judge panel refused to prevent the
construction of the project.

The Appeals Court asserted that there was
no conflict among the aforementioned laws
because the Safe Streets Act was designed to
give the federal government "as small a role as
possible" in state spending to preserve local
autonomy, while others were intended to
protect areas of historical and environmental
value.

The LEAA will therefore have to prepare a
statement concerning the effects the proposed
penal facility will have on the Green Springs
area. Their statement will be circulated to other
federal agencies related to the environment.

The Appeals Court said it would not stop
the state from constructing the proposed
facility because the federal laws "impose no
duties on the state and operate only upon
federal agencies."

George Minter, director of the State's
Department of Welfare and Institutions,
announced on November 10 that his
department was "pleased that the legal attempt
to block construction of the Virginia
Correctional Center was rejected by the
appellate court."

"We will be proceeding with developing the
project as rapidly as we can clear up the
administrative procedures," he said.