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Department of Corrections Brief History

Virginia, from the time of the first settlement at Jamestown to the relocation of the state capital to Richmond in the late 1700's, relied upon corporal and capital punishment as its penal measures. Gradually, Virginia began to use small county jails for sentences of confinement.

After the Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson began to urge that Virginia construct a "penitentiary house" as was being done in Europe. At the time, penitentiary houses were being used throughout Europe to confine and reform criminals. For more than a decade, the General Assembly ignored Jefferson's ideas. Even then it seems that building prisons was not a popular governmental activity.

In 1796, a wave of reform swept the Virginia Legislature, and Benjamin Latrobe was engaged to design a penitentiary house. Latrobe's facility was constructed on a site outside Richmond overlooking the James River. The facility, which received its first prisoners in 1800 and was completed in 1804, was known by generations of Virginians as the Virginia State Penitentiary or the "Pen".

Since the 1800's, Virginia has opened many more correctional facilities. Today, the Department of Corrections, which oversees the operation of the Commonwealth's adult correctional facilities, operates approximately 50 institutions statewide. During this past quarter century the Department has grown from a modest agency of 5,300 inmates, and 4,100 employees, to an agency of around 31,000 inmates, and nearly 13,000 employees. 2004 marked the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Virginia Department of Corrections.

In 1942, statewide Probation and Parole Services were created under the new Virginia Parole Board and were shifted to the Department of Corrections on July 1, 1974. The Statewide Community-based Corrections System was expanded and codified in 1995. It includes 42 Probation and Parole Districts, Day Reporting Centers, Diversion Centers, Detention Centers, Drug Court programs, and central support units that manage activities with local correctional facilities, Interstate Compact for Probationers and Parolees, and staff support for the Virginia Parole Board.

Today, the Virginia Department of Corrections’ (DOC) mission is to enhance public safety by controlling and supervising sentenced offenders in a humane, cost-efficient manner, consistent with sound correctional principles and constitutional standards.

The DOC is a model correctional agency and a proven innovative leader in the profession. Virginia is a safer place to live and work because the Department provides exemplary services and programs for the rehabilitation and supervision of offenders.

Inmate Programs

The prison system offers a range of programs and services that support the effective operation of facilities by constructively occupying otherwise idle inmate time and reducing unrest. Programs also provide those inmates who choose to change criminal behaviors with meaningful opportunities for positive growth.

Each inmate is assigned a Case Management Counselor who works with him/her to identify treatment needs, make program referrals, and document performance.

Prison programs are aligned within the Department so that inmates with long sentences or behavior problems (those housed in maximum or close custody prisons) receive programs that promote positive prison adjustment. Those inmates nearing release (those housed in medium or minimum custody facilities) receive programs aimed at reducing recidivism. Prison Programs include:

Work is a prison program that allows inmates to earn a small income to purchase hygiene and other commissary items, and helps reduce taxpayer costs of operating essential prison operations such as food service and grounds maintenance. Work opportunities are based on the security level of the prison. All work opportunities teach inmates employability skills and help them become accustomed to a work ethic. Some jobs provide on the job training in skilled work areas, such as in the printing shops or furniture operated by Virginia Correctional Enterprises.

• Inmate agribusiness workers in farming activities produce food for the inmate population, reducing the Department's need to purchase these items. Hydroponics enables the Department to produce fresh vegetables year-round and 100% of the dairy, pork, beef and fresh fish consumed by inmates are produced through the DOC agribusiness program.
• Inmate industries through Virginia Correctional Enterprises (VCE) such as upholstery, furniture building, printing, and commercial laundry provide services and products for sale to other State agencies and provide inmates with skilled job training. The Private Industry Enhancement (PIE) program enables private businesses to manufacture within prisons using inmate labor. Inmates working in PIE jobs are paid prevailing wages and are required to return the majority of earnings to pay court costs, restitution, child support, and a portion of prison housing costs. Joint ventures in manufacturing between VCE and private entities increase the quality and value of VCE products while expanding the market for community businesses.
• Inmate jobs may also include food service, maintenance, laundry and janitorial work to support the daily operation of a prison facility.
• Carefully screened inmate work crews maintain rural highways through the Department’s contract with the Virginia Department of Transportation. Revenue earned through this program helps offset food costs at field units.
• Work Centers serve local governments and other state agencies with low-cost inmate labor crews. These crews provide services such as maintaining grounds at the State Capitol and in State Parks, painting schools and public buildings, cleaning landfills, and helping localities in emergencies such as floods and heavy snow.
• Work release programs allow carefully screened inmates who are nearing release to return to local jails and obtain employment in the community. The inmate returns to the jail at night and any other time he/she is not at work. Work release provides opportunities for supervised and gradual reintegration to the community. The program is available to male and female inmates housed in Department of Corrections (DOC) institutions. In April 2002, the Department of Corrections initiated another pilot program to provide reentry transition services to offenders through partnerships with local jails. Selected offenders will relocate from prison to a local jail in their community to receive transitioning services such as life skills workshops and assistance with housing and employment. These services will strengthen public safety by better preparing the offenders for their return to the community.

Each prison facility offers several core programs. Core programs are those that are needed by the majority of inmates. Other programs are made available to meet the specialized needs of inmates.

• Productive Citizenship: A Vision Beyond Survival is a life skills class that provides inmates with the basic information they need to successfully adjust to the community after release. Sessions include topics such as obtaining and maintaining employment, budgeting money, obtaining housing and transportation, accessing community assistance services, parenting and legal obligations.
• Substance Abuse Treatment is provided in a number of formats in the prisons. Most prison facilities offer a Substance Abuse Psycho-educational program that helps offenders learn about drug abuse and its alternatives. Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous programs also are available at most prisons. Substance Abuse counseling groups are offered at many of the larger correctional centers. Conducted 1-2 years before an inmate’s release, the most intensive type of substance abuse treatment are Therapeutic Community programs where inmates in treatment live together to form a 24-hour supportive and confrontive recovery environment. The final phase of the Therapeutic Community programs are conducted in the community after release.
• A Framework For Breaking Barriers: A Cognitive Reality Model is a program offered at many prisons that helps inmates recognize unproductive habits in their life and set personal plans for positive change. A former inmate developed the program.
• Anger Management is a standard curriculum offered at many prisons. This program helps inmates identify triggers to their anger and learn alternative ways to meet their needs without resorting to violence.
• Sex Offender Psycho-Education programming is offered at many major institutions. This program is an introductory course in helping sex offenders understand the motivations and factors underlying their crimes, and introduces them to future treatment alternatives. Generally, most sex offenders will need to participate in an intensive long-term treatment program such as SORT (described below) before release.
• Female Offender Programming is available at all of the Departments prisons for women. Female offenders often have special needs including high levels of substance abuse, domestic and/or sexual victimization, and parenting issues. Special groups at the Department’s prisons for women are designed to meet the needs of female inmates.
• The Save Our Shelters Pen Pals Program, the first of its kind in the DOC, places hard-to-adopt dogs from local pounds with carefully selected inmates for an intense eight-week training program. Upon graduation from the program, these dogs are housebroken, leash trained, receptive to voice and hand commands, and ready to be placed in the community. More information about Pen Pals with photographs of some of the "graduates" is available through Save Our Shelters.
• The Greener Pastures program matches offenders and retired thoroughbreds. Offenders gain valuable job skills training and handling horses while the thoroughbreds have a well maintained facility once they have retired from active racing. The DOC and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation have teamed together to establish the program at James River Correctional Center.
• In addition to core programs, each prison facility offers a range of services to meet the special needs of inmates. Examples of such programs include behavior management programs, domestic violence programs, geriatric programs, victims groups, or property offenders groups.
• The Virginia Department of Correctional Education provides academic and vocational educational services, including libraries.

• Marion Correctional Treatment Center is the DOC facility for acutely mentally ill male offenders. It is licensed by the state Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services (DMHMRSAS) - as are all DOC mental health units - and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, opened in 1998, provides the full range of mental health services to female offenders.
• The Sex Offender Residential Treatment Program (SORT) located at Brunswick Correctional Center in Lawrenceville, Virginia is dedicated to providing comprehensive assessment and treatment services to inmates who have been identified as being at moderate to high risk for sexual re-offending.
• The Department of Corrections provides emergency and routine dental care on-site in most of its major institutions. Dental services provided by the Department of Corrections consist of restorative dentistry (fillings), oral surgery not limited to extractions, prosthetic dentistry (dentures), endodontics (root canals) and preventive and oral hygiene services. All dental services are subject to co-pay.
• Medical services (physician and nursing) are provided at all institutions within the Department of Corrections. This includes telemedicine through the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and the University of Virginia Health System-Office of Telemedicine.

The employees of the Department of Corrections are the cornerstones of the agency. They share a common purpose and a commitment to the highest professional standards and excellence in public service. The Department, through its unwavering commitment to its employees, is a satisfying and rewarding place to work and grow professionally.

The Academy for Staff Development is the heart of the Department’s employee training and development program and is committed to providing high quality Human Resource Development services for nearly 13,000 DOC employees, in support of the Department’s overall mission to meet the public safety needs of Virginia’s citizens. The Academy recognizes that to achieve it’s mission, it is essential that a total employee development delivery system must be maintained. This system includes three equally important elements that are necessary in providing high quality training programs and services:

• Highly qualified staff who understand the mission and goals of the Academy and who are dedicated to providing quality services.
• A curriculum development and delivery process that includes on-going needs assessment, use of the most effective methods of training presentation, and multifaceted program evaluation.
• Academy facilities that provide a physical and psychological environment that enhance the total learning experience of the adult learner.

The Virginia Department of Corrections offers varied employment opportunities in almost every geographic area of the State. To visualize the opportunities think of a correctional facility as a small city. Such a facility must have many of the services that are needed to support an entire community. These services include, but are not limited to security, medical, food service, buildings and grounds, business and accounting, probation and parole services, budget and finance, information systems, treatment, electrical and electronics services, office support, management support, water systems and enterprises.

The Virginia Department of Corrections continuously recruits to fill employment positions offering opportunities for professional growth and development and a chance to make a difference in the community. If you are interested in a career in corrections, please contact our Human Resources Office at (804) 674-3507 or visit us at the Virginia Department of Corrections.