The Prince William jail is being expanded by 204 beds

MANASSAS — Prince William – Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center has begun Phase 2 of its expansion, with a projected completion in February of 2020 and occupancy to begin in March of that year.

Right now, Jail Superintendent Col. Peter Meletis said that they’re at the stage of bringing in “massive pieces of concrete.”

“…we got a ways to go,” Meletis said.

The jail’s size is increasing with the region’s population.

“Our community has grown in population over the years and with that, we’ve had an increase in the total amount of crime that’s committed,” said Prince William Coles District Supervisor Marty Nohe.

Nohe explained that the state has changed the way they transfer prisoners in ways that cause the average length of stay to increase.  Local jails are typically used to house inmates while they’re away from trial, he said.

“…and now, the amount of time that someone will stay at a local jail after being convicted of a crime has increased and it can now be up to two years before they’re transferred to a state prison, so that has also had a big impact on the prison population.” Nohe explained.

Nohe said that there were two options – expanding the jail, which was already something that was being planned eventually or to take more prisoners to other jails with empty beds around the state and pay a daily fee for those prisoners.

The challenge was that there weren’t a lot of jails with empty beds and the transport costs were “unbelievably expensive”, Nohe said.  Every time a prisoner had a court date or needed to see a lawyer, they needed to be transported, he explained.

“We knew we had a problem,” Nohe said.

The county of the Board of County Supervisors funded a study to figure out how big the problem was.

“Overcrowding was no longer an option and building a new jail made more sense financially than farming inmates out to other jails because of the security risk and the transport cost, ” said Nohe. “This was the most cost-effective solution, but I don’t want to pretend that it’s inexpensive,” said Nohe. “I was the person on the county board who interfaced mostly with [Manassas] Mayor Parrish on making sure that what we were doing was consistent with the established agreement between the county and the city of Manassas and that any changes to that original agreement were fair to both sides.”

Prince William County is funding the $50 million construction cost of the expansion.

When the study was done, it was determined that the jail would need about 700 more beds if things stayed as they were, Meletis said.

One way to reduce inmates at the jail is re-entry programs, which Meletis said they are focusing on improving.

There are 33 inmates currently in the jail’s re-entry dorm who are learning skills to go back into society and hopefully prevent them from committing more crimes.

“If you have good re-entry programs… they’re less likely to commit crimes. It does enhance the safety of the community.” Meletis said.

The current expansion will be an increase of 204 beds. The jail has been over capacity since 2014.

“We’re still working on this. We haven’t stopped just because we’ve got some good stuff happening.” Colonel Pete Meletis said.

When asked if he was pleased with the expansion, Colonel Pete Meletis replied, “Yes, absolutely.”