Brunswick fears economic sting of jail closing as part of budget cuts

The closure of the Brunswick Correctional Center, a target of budget-cutters seven years ago, has area residents upset and worried.

It also has angered the county sheriff, who said he had four hours' notice Tuesday before Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced that the prison would be closed.

"I am profoundly saddened to hear of the closing," said Charlette T. Woolridge, the county administrator in Brunswick, located in Southside on the North Carolina border. The closing, she said, "will have devastating effect on Brunswick County's economy and on the employees that work at that facility."

Many people with whom she has spoken are afraid, she said.

The closing of the prison, located in Lawrenceville, is part of a package of budget reductions that Kaine announced Tuesday to close a $1.35 billion revenue shortfall for fiscal 2010, which began July 1. Of the 593 layoffs in Kaine's 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 and houses about 700 inmates.

The move is expected to save almost $10.4 million and cut 328 positions, a figure that state officials say includes the 164 layoffs, workers who will take retirement, vacant positions that will be frozen, and employees who will find work elsewhere in the prison system.

The closure could net the state $20 million if the Merherrin River Regional Jail Authority purchases the prison for use as a regional jail.

"It's closing because of the economy. The only question now is will it be sold to them and turned into a jail," said Gordon Hickey, a Kaine spokesman.

Hickey said the Kaine administration hopes that some of the affected employees will find jobs at the jail -- or at other state prisons, as did many employees after the recent closing of the Southampton Correctional Center.

However, Woolridge, who also is chairwoman of the regional jail authority, said the authority has made no commitment concerning purchasing the prison.

Brunswick Sheriff Brian Roberts, vice chairman of the authority, was irate about how the governor's office handled the matter. He complained that Kaine's budget document said the prison "will" be sold to the authority for a jail.

"The public perception is we've been scheming for two months with a business venture" to get a regional jail "when we don't know anything about it," he said. "We had four hours' notice, and we're pretty outraged."

People in the area, he said, "think I conspired to fire 400 people so I could get a regional jail, which is extremely far from the truth."

The regional jail authority has been working on separate plans to build a 408-inmate facility for use by Brunswick, Dinwiddie and Mecklenburg counties to alleviate local jail crowding and save money.

Last year, the authority took a $10 million loan to use toward the purchase of a 126-acre site in Brunswick, the design of the facilities and the preliminary site work.

"The current General Assembly language gives us the money. It very distinctly says that we will be reimbursed up to $50 million . . . on July 1, 2012, which is the projected opening date," Roberts said.

"We're just clicking along, meeting all the requirements and getting ready to put some shovels in the ground and all of a sudden, we're told we're going to buy a $20 million, 30-year-old prison."

Hickey acknowledged that the budget document was worded incorrectly and he made it clear the jail authority was not consulted. Hickey said it is hoped a deal can be worked out for the authority to buy the prison.

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