University of Virginia Library

A 'Correctional System' Correcting Nothing

I wish I knew what people like
that really wanted. Leniency is
just going to make them come
back again and again."

This is the crux of the
problem, too. The state and
local "correctional"
institutions are actually
misnamed, for they 'correct'
nothing. The crime situation
persists and the same prisoners
return again and again to jail.

Ease Prisoner Adjustment

Many prisoners are
repeaters, yet programs such as
OAR attempt to help inmates
adjust to the outside world, so
that on their return to the
community they will be firmly
grounded and not likely to
commit another crime.

Daily Progress

County Sheriff George L. Bailey

Although time may be a
factor, such programs have so
far been generally unsuccessful.

"When we release a man,
chances are good that he'll be
back," Mr. Pace said, "and be
back on the same offense. If he
was in for drunk driving, he'll
be back for drunk driving;
sometimes within the week."

The city jail even houses
five or six "full-time" cases, as
Mr. Pace describes them. "One
fellow was picked up in
Staunton and he listed his
home address as Charlottesville
City Jail. Cases like this are
sad, because they haven't got
anywhere else to go and they
know they can have a roof and
food here," Mr. Pace added.

With such a grim outlook
on life, prisoners within the
city jail surprisingly "get along
well with each other,
particularly considering the
conditions inside," Mr.
Rosenfield said. Close quarters
do spark occasional fights,
however.

Mr. Pace recounted the
recent incident of an inmate at
the jail who wanted to stay
awake at night and sleep during
the day.

"The others told him to
shut up at night, and when he
wouldn't, they told him they
couldn't get to him then but
they would get to him in the
morning when the cells were
unlocked into the corridors,"
Mr. Pace said.

"I didn't know anything
about it until the next
morning, a scuffle started and
they broke a window and cut
this guy up real bad. A rescue
squad had to take him to the
hospital. They usually take
care of their own differences,
but in a case like this, a man
has to be transferred to
another bullpen."

Diversions from the daily
humdrum, violent or peaceful,
are seized upon with
enthusiasm, no matter how
trivial.

Women Stir Romance

Female prisoners provide
another type of diversion for
city inmates. Although Virginia
state law requires that no
woman or juvenile be housed
within sight or sound of an adult
institution, such is not the case
at the city jail.

When a woman is admitted
to city jail (women are usually
jailed on breaking and entering.
drugs, murder or prostitution
charges), "we never have any
problem with the male inmates
because there are always these
love affairs going," Mr. Pace
said.

Male and female prisoners
pass notes back and forth and
talk through air spaces in the
walls, making big "storybook"
plans about getting together
when they get out of jail,
according to Sheriff Pace.

"It's all fantasy, but it helps
relieve the boredom, I guess,"
he added.

Part of the problem with
the jails is that court action is
not speedy enough. Mr. Pace
believes that court procedures
and time between arrest and
trial are too lengthy.

"Under no circumstances
should anyone stay here (city
jail) over 60 days," he said.
"We have people in for 12
months, though."

Mr. Pace has his own ideas
on how the justice system
should operate.

Speedy Trials

"In my early years as a
deputy," he mused, "If we had
a felony, say, happen over the
weekend, the accused man
would ask to talk to me
Monday morning. He wanted
to be tried that day and get on
down the road to start serving
time and work his way out.

"I'd go down and talk to
the judge, we'd find a lawyer
somewhere around Court
Square or the Elks Club. He'd
talk to the man, we'd try the
man, and he'd plead guilty," he
continued. We'd give him a
term of eight years, and about
3 p.m., we'd have him in the
car and on the way down to
Richmond.

"Now, it takes 90 days to
six months to do the same
thing we did in a day. What we
did was give a man a fair and
impartial trial, to my way of
thinking. The same man that
got five years then gets five to
ten years now," Mr. Pace
added.

Lawyers just don't
want harassment from
the civil liberties people who
claim prisoners don't get a fair
trial, so the procedures go on
and on," he said.

A veteran sheriff and
deputy, Mr. Pace is frustrated
by persons who continually
return to jail. "I don't know
what the answer is. I really just
wish I knew why these people
keep coming back," he said.

Mr. Pace attributes the
recent concern for jails to the
drug problem. "A jail is the
hardest thing to get anyone to
spend money on," he said. "I
sincerely believe we wouldn't
be as far along as we are if
drugs hadn't come into higher
social class families who
wouldn't normally have
contact with jails or prisoners."

Mr. Pace was willing for
reporters to talk to his inmates,
as long as names were not used,
and agreed to open his jail to
the public for tours through
OAR Feb. 22.

At least part of the answer
to local jail problems may be
on the way. A new combined

city-county jail is now under
construction on Avon St., to
be completed by. January
1974. The new facility will
replace the two local jails, and
will also serve Greene, Madison
and Fluvanna counties.

The state Department of
Welfare and Institutions has
general charge of specifications
and plans for the jail, although
it contributes only $25,000 of
the total $1.5 million
construction cost.

Mr. Pace was not consulted
about the new jail, nor was he
shown the plans until a month
ago. Mr. Bailey, however, saw
the plans some time ago. He
said that the new jail will make
rehabilitation efforts more
feasible.

Mr. Pace disagreed, at least
in principle. "A jail is a jail,"
he said. "It's just four walls.
The building will be better, but
the prisoners will still be
prisoners."

While the new jail may solve
the purely physical problems,
it will not necessarily mean
that internal problems will be
obliterated. A concerted
rehabilitation program such as
OAR is taking steps towards
relieving prisoner's restless
boredom, but it suffers from a
lack of public support.

OAR has made strides
toward alleviating the
monotony,but ignorance and
apathy on the part of local
officials and citizens has
threatened to hinder
improvement of inmates'
surroundings or rehabilitation
for their return to a normal
life.

Sheriff Bailey said his
prisoners are incarcerated in the
county jail for "punishment
and rehabilitation."
Punishment is obvious; the
rehabilitation less so. Except
for OAR efforts, and a few
other isolated instances,
prisoners in both jails seem to
be learning how to live well in
an institution, but not how to
cope with problems they must
face in the outside, everyday
world.

Better Conditions Needed

Although conditions in
the city and county jails do not
approach those which have
caused riots elsewhere, they are
nonetheless grave, and cannot
long be overlooked.