The Virginia Correctional System as well as correctional systems across this nation have lost their real purpose. Prisons have proven to be a valuable resource to major corporations who can "fund" their way into business with correctional departments. The very reason prisons exist is supposed to be to separate those who broke society's laws from those who have not or have not been caught yet. While in prison those individuals are supposed to be reformed to fit back into society. That has not been the case for years now and it's only getting worse.

 The state of Virginia was taken down this road by former Governor George Allen and Ron Angelone who Allen appointed as the D. O. C. Director. Their entire campaign revolved around tough antics and it worked. The citizens of Virginia elected him and abolished parole for anyone convicted post July 1, 1995. At the same time, those prisoners who were incarcerated pre July 1, 1995 had parole abolished for them as well. Even though they are eligible, parole is not granted, There is approximately 8-9,000 still eligible, but are denied repeatedly. If parole is granted the Parole Board will in reality be firing themselves. The repeated denials is nothing more than job security. The Board does not even see the prisoner eligible. An interviewer is sent to see 20 or 30 prisoners at each prison and make a recommendation on those 20-30 in no more than 3 days. Every quarter (1 quarter = 4 months) he or she will see 20 or 30 prisoners in those 2-3 day time frame and then go on to the next prison. The Parole Board itself has no human contact with any prisoner anymore. They don't even meet face to face themselves! They make their ruling(s) from their computers at home or from work or wherever. This is the parole system you pay for.

Then you have the ones convicted post 1995 who are not eligible for parole and can only receive 4.5 days for every 30 days served with exemplary behavior (54 days per year). 85%. These prisoners make up the majority of today's prison system in Virginia. Roughly 32,000 prisoners out of 40,000 are not eligible for parole period, and no matter how reformed they are, will remain in prison at your expense until they serve their full mandatory sentence. There is no earning their way out. There is no risk assessment to determine if a prisoner is ready to be released, or any other form of knowing. Prisoners are kept in prison until their mandatory release date whether it is needed or not. In most cases it is entirely to long and the prisoner becomes what they want you to be, a statistic. Prison is now handles like medical care, there is now no money in curing an illness, the money is in the treatment. Today's system works the same way, if you actually rehabilitate a prisoner so that he or she does not return, then you will have less people in prison. Less people in prison equals less profit for politicians and the Prison Industry. Virginia is too far invested in companies such as The Geo-Group, Keefe Commissary Network, Global-Tel, etc., etc.. They cannot get enough profits to keep these companies in their system unless they continue to build prisons, keep people incarcerated, and depend upon recidivism to balance the numbers. This worked well as long as the economy was good. Now that the nation and the state is in crisis it is all coming back to haunt them. The horror of it all is that the cuts being made are towards rehabilitation "again." The few existing programs were already so small, and nothing more than a walk through to receive funding in the first place. Prisons were closed, you would think that would cause them to have to rethink things, but why? Virginia taxpayers will foot the bill for more and more prisons! The only major institution closed was Southampton Correctional Center, the rest were field units and diversion centers. With tough on crime antics and Truth in Sentencing Laws and big corporations padding campaign funds of politicians, buying legislation in their favor, and so on, judges were not using diversion centers. Alternatives to being in prison for a long time are not profitable. They even admit in the 2009 Executive Budget Document of the Dept. of Corrections (See VA 2009 DOC Budget) that these diversion and detentions centers are now underutilized by judges and were closed due to that fact. There is no money in the "cure" only the "treatment."

On March 3, 2009, Channel 13 (ABC) news at 6:00 p.m. reported that Virginia spends more on prisons than they do on schools for your children, Medicaid, and the elderly. They also stated that crime is down, due to this. I promise you that is not the case. Crime rises and falls in the entire nation with the state of the economy and drug flow. With the loss of so many jobs, the state of the economy, and the drugs in this state, crime will sky rocket between now and the time the economy and jobs rise!

I promise you that by the middle of the election campaign for Virginia's next Governor, every one of them will preach crime is out of control and they will fix it! Build more prisons!!! The same ol' tough on crime antics will be used over and over until you wake up and see the real truth and not what is pushed at you. I beg of you to research these issues on your own! The facts are here, and in many other places. All the information I give you is public information, you just don't know it's there for you, and the powers that be don't want you to know it, but they have to disclose it.

The taxpayers in Virginia as well as states across this nation really should take the time to see for themselves. It is your money being wasted on a smoke and mirror show put on by those you trust with your vote.

Did you know that every year the General Assembly denies a proposal bill to allow a Citizens Advisory Board to enter prisons and interview inmates and staff? This board would consist of people like you that could unannounced enter the prisons in your area and see for themselves how it really is. That would not be good for them (the Va D.O.C.), they couldn't conceal the lack of rehabilitation within the system.

It's not a matter of constitutional or civil rights being violated on prisoners. Sure that does take place from time to time, but it's the pure lack of methods to keep prisoners from repeat offending that is the issue. Your money pays for paper programs that are so ineffective they may as well not exist. With the no parole or good time to be earned, prisoners watch TV, play table top games, basketball, lift weights, get high on the constant drug flow in the system, join gangs, or are pumped up on psychotropics and sleep most of the time. That is what they don't want you to know.

Sure there are vocational trades, you can get your G. E. D., and programs like Anger Management, Substance Abuse, Productive Citizenship, and Parenting. What you don't know is that a Substance Abuse Program is only 18 hours long! A group of 10 or more prisoners go once per week to the "class" for a maximum of 1.5 hours per class. That gives a counselor less than 2 hours in a period of of 12 weeks to repair years of drug abuse for an individual prisoner. That is if only 10 prisoners attend that class, if there is more, the time allowed per prisoner drops. It is not possible! The program is a hoax! All a prisoner has to do is show up. That is what a Citizen's Advisory Board would be able to see if allowed into prison. Along with every other falsehood you are told.

There is no incentive for prisoners to even try to better themselves in today's prison system. No matter what they do, or how they have changed, they will do 85% of their sentence, or if they are eligible for parole under the pre July 1, 1995 "Old Law" statute, they will not be paroled with the current Parole Boards' attitude about job security. Prisoners are warehoused until released. Cuts in funding for rehabilitation have all but stripped the system of it so men and women simply leave prison in worse shape than before their incarceration. They are thrown out of the door into a world that is so far ahead of them that they can't catch up, and revert to what they know or learned in prison to survive. That lands them back in prison and there goes the revolving door that is the Va. D.O.C.. If you the people footing the bill for this lack of public safety do not stand up and say enough, you will soon have a prison in your back yard. Each of the 8 prisons built post 1995 are equipped with climate control, but your kids can't go to school some summer days because of the heat. Prisoners sit in the A/C while your kids lose education. Teachers can't be paid what they deserve, but $100 million dollar prisons can be slapped up at will. You need to ask yourselves why? Why is more spent to warehouse prisoners than on the children that are the future? The answer lies in the facts you have been given on this site. Prison in Virginia is a business, an industry where corporations are allowed to dictate how your tax dollars are spent. The prison system belongs to you the tax payers of this state. So out of state, or instate corporations or anyone else could dictate how your taxes are spent. You put your trust in public officials with your vote!

Even though they have political power, they are your employees! It is long past the time to put them in check. I will bet my life on the fact that they will squirm when the voters say enough! When enough people believe that they have been lied to in order for some big company to profit and provide kickbacks the ones responsible will drop to their knees when told it stops now! YOU have that power, You dictate who runs what with your voice and vote.

Today's prisoner is tomorrow's neighbor, you pay for a neighbor, not a prisoner! But a prisoner is what you get back from the very people you trust. Please research the facts given to you! Once you eyes are opened to the truth, then do something about it. If you stand idle then it will continue until more than half of the U.S. is behind bars. The United States only makes up about 5% of the worlds population, yet it makes up 25% of the Worlds prison population! Why? It has been answered for you, it is a business, but in a nutshell this is what you pay for.