HD79 - Plan to Finance, Construct and Operate Additional Correctional Facilities


Executive Summary:
Background

Item 410 I.2. of the 2005 Acts of Assembly requires the Department of Corrections to develop a plan to finance, construct, and operate additional correctional facilities in order to meet bed space needs through fiscal year 20II. The legislature further directed that the plan include as a first priority, a facility to be located in the Mount Rogers Planning District, and as a second priority, a facility to be located in Charlotte County.

Need

The October 2005 State Responsible Inmate Population Forecast is down from the prior year, however, the need for the Mount Rogers facility still exists. The new Master Plan based on the October forecast has not yet been finalized; however, the draft of that document indicates a bed space shortage of approximately 2,000 by the end of FY2010, and almost 3,000 by the end ofFY2011. It is anticipated the bed space shortages indicated in the draft version of the Master Plan will change very little when finalized. While funding for construction is not needed this session, the land acquisition and design portion of the project should be dealt with during the 2006 legislative session in order to bring beds on line before the shortage reaches 3,000 beds.

Current Status

The Department previously received proposals under the Public-private Education and Infrastructure Act (PPEA) for both the Mount Rogers and Charlotte County facilities. These proposals have been evaluated and a recommendation made to move forward to a detailed proposal submission relative to the Mount Rogers location only. Assuming we are granted permission to move forward under the active PPEA process on November 1, 2005, construction of the Mount Rogers facility would be complete in mid FY2010, assuming the initial site proposed proves to be acceptable both publicly and in terms of its subsurface and environmental characteristics. If a new site must be identified, tested, and accepted publicly, the delivery time may slide to the end of FY2010, or possibly into FY20ll.