Benefits to county from the new jail

The new regional jail to serve Amherst, Appomattox and a portion of Bedford counties took what could be its final step toward construction last week. The Amherst County Planning Commission approved a site plan for the jail in Madison Heights.

Construction on the 380-bed facility to be located near the intersection of Virginia 210 and the U.S. 29 Bypass is scheduled to begin by the end of the year. Grading for the site has been approved and can begin now, according to Jeremy Bryant, director of planning and zoning for the county.

The Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority will operate the single-story jail, which was made necessary by overcrowded facilities in all three jurisdictions. The current Amherst jail opened in 1994 with a capacity for 50 inmates. In recent years, it has routinely housed between 80 and 95 inmates.

The biggest advantage of becoming part of the regional jail system is that the state will pay for half of the estimated $50 million cost. The other half will be apportioned among the three localities. The central location near the bypass is ideal for both Appomattox and Moneta, as well as Amherst.

Finding a site for a new jail is never a pleasant task for public officials and the job was no different for the Amherst County Board of Supervisors. Residents who live in the old part of Madison Heights objected to the facility being located too close to them. They expressed concerns about their safety and potentially lower property values as a result of the jail’s location.

County officials responded that the nearest neighbor to the jail is the Central Virginia Training Center, which is at least a couple of miles away.

The March escape of an inmate from the Blue Ridge Regional Jail in Lynchburg sharpened the focus on safety for Madison Heights residents. Regional jail officials met with residents to assure them that the new jail would have safeguards in place that would prevent a similar escape. The Lynchburg escapee tied a number of bed sheets together to provide a route of escape over the security fencing. He has been recaptured.

Biff Johnson of Hurt & Proffitt Inc., the engineering firm handling the project, told the planning commission the other night that the jail is being designed with a totally different system for security. “What happened at the Lynchburg facility a few months ago,” he said, “cannot happen at this facility in the same manner.”

While it seems a bit of a stretch to relate economic development to jail construction, there are two distinct links in the case of the Madison Heights regional jail. First, it is expected to bring more than 140 new jobs to the area, according to the regional jail authority.

And just as important, perhaps, officials hope that extending water and sewer lines to the 23-acre site will generate commercial development along Virginia 210 near the intersection with the bypass. Many in Amherst County thought that construction of the bypass would open a whole new section of the county to commercial and business development. That has occurred to a degree along the Virginia 130 connector to the bypass but not so much on the 210 connector.

So, the jail does have a silver lining. With the new jobs and the potential for new development, it could prove to be a blessing to the county and to the region. There may even be some in old Madison Heights who would agree with that. Construction is expected to be completed in 2011.