Va. Beach jail uses hard-time sector to curb inmate violence

VIRGINIA BEACH

Within the walls of the Virginia Beach Correctional Center, the city's most violent criminals collide.

Murderers, robbers, rapists and rival gang members sleep under one roof, alongside those awaiting trial and nonviolent offenders serving time for crimes such as drunken driving, theft and fraud. They're carefully sorted by gang affiliation, criminal history and the threat they pose to other inmates and guards. A complex system of cameras and sheriff's deputies keeps constant watch.

Still, violence happens - up to three or four assaults each week, according to Sheriff Kenneth Stolle, who's responsible for the jail's operation. For the worst rule-breakers, he's created a new punitive housing unit, dubbed C3F for its location on the third floor of the jail's C building.

Established about a month and a half ago, the unit houses inmates being punished for carrying makeshift weapons, such as straightened-out paper clips, or attacking other inmates or deputies. Chilly, restrictive and stripped of all luxuries, it's designed to be a place inmates never want to return, Stolle said.

"It's not supposed to be pleasant," he said. "We don't want them to enjoy it."

While assigned to C3F, offenders don't get to watch TV, go outside for recreation, call family, receive visitors or purchase canteen items, such as notebooks and snacks. Instead, they spend the day in one of 26 cells kept at the coolest temperature allowed by state law, 65 degrees. Solid doors outfitted with tinted windows deny them any outside view. They get just two hours of running water each day and never leave their cells without handcuffs on their arms and shackles on their legs.

Even in the shower, they're chained to a metal bar with their weak hand remaining free to wash.

It's "hell," said inmate James Dyson, 25, speaking from a cell after 6 1/2 weeks in restrictive housing for a fight. "I was in a maximum-security facility with killers and pedophiles and rapists, and C3F was worse than that."

Dyson said being constantly restrained and cut off from seeing his infant son and daughter on the jail's video visitation system wore down his morale.

"It was rigorous," he said. "It don't want to make you go back."

After spending time in restrictive housing, inmates such as Dyson are moved to a transitional housing unit before returning to the jail's general population. About 20 inmates were in restrictive housing last week. The jail typically houses 450 to 1,550 people, Stolle said.

The effort is meant to prevent violence and punish it.

"We never forget that the inmates in here are still people and they deserve to be protected," Chief Deputy Sheriff Dennis Free said. "Even though they are people that society is mad at, we still protect them."

While fewer deputies are being attacked, aggression against inmates is up, Stolle said.

During the first five months of the year, inmate-on-inmate violence rose 14 percent from 2009, according to statistics provided by the Sheriff's Office. There were 96 of those assaults through May 31 this year, 12 more than in that time period last year.

Stolle attributes the rise to a growing number of incarcerated gang members. The Sheriff's Office has identified about 100 in the jail, but Stolle thinks the real number is about three times higher.

Stolle has also taken two additional steps to address aggression in the jail - creating an intelligence officer position and pursuing criminal charges against inmates who break laws.

"In the six months that I've been here, we've taken a much harder approach to dealing with the inmates," Stolle said. "We have eliminated a lot of the opportunity for mischief there, and the guys know if they screw up they're going to be held accountable."

The intelligence officer investigates incidents and collects information such as inmates' gang affiliations, nicknames, tattoos and religious habits. The intel is stored in a database and used to keep an eye on potentially predatory inmates and solve cases within and outside the jail.

When cell blocks refuse to cooperate after an incident, deputies put them on lockdown, which means the inmates can't leave their area or enjoy any perks until someone confesses or steps up with information.

"What we're trying to get out of is an environment where nobody talks and nobody cooperates because somebody gets hurt," Stolle said. "We want the inmates to feel safe."

Informants are kept secret and moved to a new bunking area if necessary, said Lt. Brian Struz-zien, the intelligence officer.

Stolle has also started seeking criminal charges against inmates who commit crimes. In the past, they typically faced only in-house administrative punishment, such as losing privileges, he said.

"They had the attitude that they're already in jail and can do whatever they want to do and nothing's going to happen to them," Stolle said.

So far, the hard-line approach is working, Free said.

"C3F is a hell hole," he said. "Nobody wants to be in there."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com