"Virginia's cash-strapped government plans to rent 1,000 prison beds to other states to raise millions of dollars while it leaves hundreds of its own inmates in crowded local jails waiting to be moved.

The decision has angered some sheriffs, especially those from the populous areas of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads who already house hundreds of prisoners for the state for a fraction of the actual cost to local governments. At least one sheriff, in Virginia Beach, has threatened to sue the state if Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) does not take action this week.

"It's ludicrous," said Fairfax County Sheriff Stan G. Barry, who has 100 state inmates in his jail. "They are forcing me to house their prisoners. They clearly have the space. It's all a money-making proposition."

But a sluggish economy has left the state with a shortfall of more than $2 billion through 2010, translating to deep cuts for state agencies, local governments and schools.

The Department of Corrections, the largest agency in the state, with 13,000 employees, expects to make up for at least $40 million in cuts by renting out 1,000 beds.

Gene M. Johnson, director of the corrections department, defended the decision, saying he probably would have to lay off employees or close facilities if not for the out-of-state prisoners.

"It was simply a budget situation," he said. "Everybody is having budget difficulties, and we are having them as well. It was done to generate money."

So far, 296 male inmates from Wyoming are in the medium-security Pocahontas State Correctional Center in Tazewell County and the maximum-security Wallens Ridge State Prison in Wise County. The state expects to make between $14.5 million and $18.5 million each year to house the Wyoming inmates in prisons in southwest Virginia. Neither Maryland nor the District leases space to out-of-state prisoners.

Virginia began renting out prison beds a decade ago but largely abandoned the practice several years after two Connecticut inmates died and human rights groups lodged complaints of excessive force. Larry Frazier, 50, died after he was shocked repeatedly with a stun gun. David Tracy, 20, killed himself.

Virginia stopped housing out-of-state inmates in 2004, saying the space was needed for a growing inmate population.

Elizabeth Alexander, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, which filed a lawsuit in 2001 on behalf of the Connecticut inmates housed in Virginia, said she was "extraordinarily concerned" when she learned that Virginia planned to take out-of-state prisoners again.

"It's a recipe for disaster," she said. "Virginia runs among the worst, most brutal prisons in the country."

Johnson, a 42-year veteran of the department and its director since 2002, said the state's prisons are so "safe and humane" that many Connecticut inmates did not want to return to their state's prisons several years ago.

The practice of housing inmates in other states has spawned a national policy debate about the long-term impact to men and women housed hundreds of miles from spouses, children and parents in prisons with new rules and different types of people.

"Prisoners are not cows or chickens to be shipped off to wherever it's cheaper," said David Fathi, director of the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch. "The mistake is treating prisoners as a commodity. It's almost the worst thing you can do from a rehabilitation prospective."

Virginia houses 33,500 inmates at 43 facilities. As of May 19, almost 1,700 inmates in 75 local and regional jails were waiting to be moved to a state prison.

Sheriffs have complained for at least three decades about the large number of state inmates in local jails, which are supposed to house defendants awaiting trial and those sentenced for minor crimes. They argue that the more dangerous inmates further crowd their jails and that the jails provide less access to rehabilitative and educational services.

Many sheriffs, including in Fairfax and Arlington counties, have sued the state to force officials to act. State law requires that felons sentenced to at least one year behind bars get transferred from local jails to state prisons within 60 days.

"Taking out-of-state inmates obviously compounds the problem," Virginia Beach Sheriff Paul J. Lanteigne said.

Lanteigne wrote to Kaine asking him to declare a public safety emergency and quickly move some of the 70 state inmates from his jail. But Kaine's response did not satisfy Lanteigne, who plans to sue the state this week if his self-imposed deadline of today passes with no action.

Kaine defended housing out-of-state inmates, saying that there are always extra beds when new prisons open.

"It is more economical to fill that capacity than to leave it vacant," he said. "Anytime we are in that situation when we have a little capacity, we do look at the option of short-term arrangements with other states. . . . It's smart for the state."

Virginia pays sheriffs $14 a day to house state inmates (though the actual cost can be as high as $125) while collecting about $75 a day from other states to house their prisoners.

"It's a win for the state, but they're putting the burden on local sheriffs," said Norfolk Sheriff Robert J. McCabe, president of the Virginia Sheriffs' Association, which represents the state's 123 sheriffs.

Virginia began housing inmates from other states in 1998 after the state built and expanded a dozen prisons after abolishing parole and enacting longer sentences for certain crimes. But the inmate population did not grow as much as expected.

The state took in inmates from a half-dozen other states and the District. By 2001, more than 3,000 inmates, about 10 percent of the state's prison population, were not from Virginia.

Michael P. Jacobson, a former New York City Correction Commissioner who now heads the Vera Institute of Justice, defended the practice, even though he said housing other states' inmates comes with a host of potential operational complications, including violence and lawsuits.

"It complicates life in a variety of ways," he said. "But there's no reason to do it unless you make money."

With the state looking for revenue, Johnson said Virginia will use about 1,000 temporary beds, which he had initially planned to put away after two new prisons opened last year.

The most recent national estimates indicate 10 states send 10,000 inmates to other states because they do not have room to house them. But most prisoners are housed in private prisons, not state-run facilities.

Many human rights groups oppose the practice, arguing that the inmates suffer from a loss of training, rehabilitation and contact with family and friends. Studies show those benefits make it less likely an inmate will commit another crime after being released.

The groups also caution that moving offenders to a prison with new rules and with different types of inmates can lead to violence, as shown by riots in other prisons across the nation after out-of-state prisoners moved in.

"It may be a good deal financially, but it's a pretty awful deal from the perspective of prisoners," said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group that advocates for more lenient sentencing. "I think it's very shortsighted given problems seen not very long ago."" (Anita Kumar, The Washington Post, June 1, 2008)