NAACP head to meet with officials on inmate transfer issue

The head of the Pittsylvania County branch of the NAACP will meet with officials from the Virginia Department of Corrections in Chatham next week to discuss the transfer of 1,000 prisoners from Pennsylvania to Green Rock Correctional Center outside Chatham.

Willie Fitzgerald, head of the county NAACP, said he will tell officials how the organization and residents feel about the move and how it will impact the area. The NAACP is circulating a petition to Gov. Bob McDonnell, the General Assembly and the citizens of Virginia opposing the transfer of local inmates from Green Rock to other Virginia prisons. The petition asks that they be kept at Green Rock and that the prison remain a medium-security facility.

Sixteen people from across the state have signed the online petition as of Wednesday afternoon, but Fitzgerald said hundreds others have signed the paper petition.

Green Rock had about 1,020 inmates in November, but the number has fallen to 600 due to preparations for the move, Department of Corrections Spokesman Larry Traylor said Tuesday. All Virginia inmates will be transferred to other facilities in Virginia make room for the Pennsylvania prisoners. The transfer of Pennsylvania inmates will take place in increments and there may be a temporary overlap — with Virginia and Pennsylvania inmates at Green Rock, but in separate housing, Traylor said.

Traylor said a contract has not been signed, but the transfer is expected to take place next month. Green Rock inmates will be sent to other prisons around Virginia. Traylor said he was aware of a request from Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, for a meeting with the NAACP, but knows no details.

The meeting, which was facilitated by Hurt, will take place at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Economic Development Office in Chatham. Fitzgerald said the meeting is closed to the public. Hurt, who is in session at the General Assembly, said he will not attend the meeting.

Hurt said Fitzgerald called him expressing concerns over the transfer. Hurt said he wants to make sure his constituents are safe.

“The biggest issue … is the issue of public safety and making sure the inmates … (will be) at the same security level the inmates are currently,” Hurt said.

Hank Davis, Chatham-Blairs supervisor and chair of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, said he will attend the meeting.

“I’ll talk with them and see what they say,” Davis said. “I think their (the DOC’s) minds are made up.”

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors and the county branch of the NAACP oppose the transfer of local inmates from Green Rock because of the burden it will place on relatives who will have to travel farther to visit incarcerated loved ones. The Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution during its meeting Jan. 19 opposing the transfer of Pittsylvania County residents who happen to be incarcerated at Green Rock to other prisons around Virginia to open up space for the out-of-state prisoners. The resolution also requests that Green Rock remain a medium-security facility.