PORTSMOUTH — The board that oversees the Hampton Roads Regional Jail is expected to vote Wednesday to shut the jail down by April 1.
With a reduced number of inmates at the lockup, city managers from the jail’s five partnering cities have decided it’s time to close the doors, the chairman of the 15-member board said in an emailed letter to the jail’s correctional staff last week.
“The cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Newport News, and Hampton have decided it is no longer sustainable,” the chairman, Deputy Chesapeake City Manager Robert Geis, wrote in the letter.
The Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority — made up of the city manager, sheriff and a council member from each of the five cities — will vote on the closure during the board’s monthly meeting Wednesday.
All inmates are expected to be transferred out by March 31.
One board member, Portsmouth Sheriff Michael Moore, has told The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press that he’s been in discussions with his fellow board members about converting the regional jail into an all-new Portsmouth City Jail, to replace an aging waterfront facility in that city. But it’s unclear whether a transfer to Portsmouth will be discussed or voted on Wednesday.
With space for 1,300 inmates, the Hampton Roads Regional Jail opened 25 years ago in Portsmouth to handle overflow inmates from local jails in the five partnering cities.
But only 202 inmates — about 16% of the jail’s total capacity — are housed there now, down from more than 300 earlier this year. Two of the five partnering cities, Norfolk and Portsmouth, are barely using it.
Longstanding criminal justice system changes began to reduce the need for inmate space several years ago. That includes fewer drug arrests and more inmates being released to pretrial probation rather than being kept in custody pending trial.
The U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation into the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in 2016 for possible civil rights violations after two high-profile deaths there, with a 2018 report citing concerns about staffing levels and inmate safety, and the treatment of the mentally ill.
Though the matter was resolved in a 2020 agreement — with jail leadership vowing to make changes — Portsmouth, Norfolk and Chesapeake cited those concerns in saying they would cut back on the number of inmates they send to the lockup.
More inmate reductions came as a result of the pandemic.
Wednesday’s vote to close the jail “is very highly likely” to be approved, said Joel Rubin, a communications consultant the jail authority hired months ago as a spokesman on the issue.
“They’ve told the staff — they’ve given them a letter,” Rubin said Tuesday. “They’ve had meetings with them on the different shifts. They’ve already told the staff that the intention is to close as of April 1.”
Discussions among board members regarding a possible shutdown began several months ago, he said.
“At the end of the day, it was sort of up to the cities,” Rubin said. “The five cities had to say, ‘Yeah, close it. It is our recommendation that it close’ … That’s what they were sort of waiting for — for the cities to say, ‘We don’t need this facility anymore, let’s move on.'”
Rubin said he doesn’t know of any board members — or any of the five cities — opposing the shutdown.
According to an Oct. 11 inmate roster obtained by the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot, Newport News leads the way in the number of inmates still housed at the regional jail. That city accounts for nearly half the jail’s roster, or 93 of 202 total inmates.
Hampton has 52 inmates at the regional jail — about a quarter of the total — followed by Chesapeake with 35.
But Norfolk — the largest of the five partnering cities — has only 13 inmates at the regional jail, while Portsmouth has just three. In fact, the U.S. Marshals Service, with four inmates at the regional jail, has more inmates there than Portsmouth.
Newport News Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Dottie Wikan referred a call to Geis on where the 93 Newport News inmates would go now. He didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday afternoon.
The regional jail opened to fanfare in June 1998 after three years of construction.
At 385,000 square feet on Elmhurst Lane in Portsmouth, it was at the time Virginia’s third largest jail. The $66 million facility was designed to help city jails ease overcrowding, following complaints of inmates at local jails sleeping on cots in close quarters.
“For inmates, the jail will seem incredibly spacious compared to their old homes,” a 1998 Daily Press story said.
The new facility was also designed to house inmates with medical needs and take in more women than a typical jail.
After 25 years of jail operations, Geis wrote to the regional jail’s correctional officers and other staffers last week, thanking them for their years of service “and your vital role in keeping Hampton Roads a safe community.”
“It takes a special group of trained, dedicated and compassionate individuals to ensure that inmates not only remain inside the building but are treated well so they can eventually return to society and become productive citizens,” he wrote.
But the staff “may have noticed” the declining inmate population over the years, necessitating the decision to close.
Geis encouraged the staff to stay with the regional jail until the April 1 closure — with bonuses now and in March for those “who stay at their posts.” The jail will host a job fair this fall with openings in the five cities, with job counselors to be brought in.
“We know this may be unsettling news, but it is necessary given the current and prospective inmate population,” Geis wrote. “We remain committed to you as valued members of our team.”
Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com
