Lawrenceville-area residents protest plan to close Brunswick prison

Several dozen Lawrenceville-area residents brought the pain of state budget cuts to the state Capitol grounds, where they hoped to share it with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday.

Kaine was not in attendance, though, as Mary Griffith, a counselor at the soon-to-be-closed Brunswick Correctional Center fought back tears while addressing her neighbors and colleagues at the front steps of the Bell Tower.

"We need our jobs. . . . All our livelihoods are going down the drain," she said. Later when asked her plans, Griffith, a 12-year employee of the Virginia Department of Corrections, said: "I don't know."

Belinda Easter, a retired prison employee, said the decision to close Brunswick "was like a thief coming in the middle of the night and kicking you out of your houses."

The closing of the prison, located in Lawrenceville, is part of a package of budget reductions that Kaine announced this year to reduce a $1.35 billion revenue shortfall for fiscal 2010, which began July 1.

The closing of the 700-inmate prison and loss of jobs will have a big impact on the small Southside county, population 16,000, already hit hard by the recession.

Of the 593 layoffs in Kaine's overall plan, the largest single number -- 164 -- are from the closure of the Brunswick prison. According to the Virginia Department of Corrections' Web site, the prison was built in 1982.

Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said it is hoped the prison will be closed by Nov. 10. As of yesterday morning, there were 25 inmates there.

The move is expected to save almost $10.4 million and cut 328 positions, a figure that state officials say includes the 164 layoffs.

Barbara Jarrett Drummond, chairwoman of the Brunswick Board of Supervisors, promised yesterday: "We are going to fight this to the end." She asked Kaine, "What's next? Do you only see Brunswick County as the only place that you can attack?"

Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said yesterday that "our plans haven't changed. We intend to close and sell that property. The decision is driven by the economy, and that hasn't changed."

It was hoped the closure could net the state $20 million if the Merherrin River Regional Jail Authority purchased the prison for use as a regional jail for the use of Brunswick, Dinwiddie and Mecklenburg counties.

But later last month, the regional jail authority rejected that proposal. It cited, among other things, the inappropriateness of the 25-year-old, low-security prison for use as a jail that would sometimes house high-security prisoners.

The authority told Kaine it will move ahead with plans to build a new regional jail on a 125-acre site near Interstate 85 it had already purchased.

State Sen. L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, vowed to carry the fight to keep the facility open to the 2010 session of the General Assembly.

"When nobody wanted the Brunswick Correctional [Center] in their backyard, the citizens of Brunswick County embraced it. I say, 'Foul play.'"

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .