Bond Agents: Regional Jail Won’t Unlock Information on Inmates

Just as the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority locks down inmates, it also now keeps basic prisoner information under lock and key.

The name of the prisoner, his or her criminal charges, and the bond amount set by a magistrate are crucial bits of information that bail bondsmen say they need to decide whether to post a suspect’s bond. The Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority, based in Abingdon and with sites in Haysi, Tazewell and Duffield, once provided those basics without hesitation.

However, those at the jail now enforce a no-release policy that contradicts public records rules adopted by other Virginia regional jails contacted Monday by the Bristol Herald Courier.

“It’s supposed to be a matter of public record, but nobody’s challenging them,” said Don Morrell of Southeastern Bonding of Bristol, Tenn.

State open records watchdogs fear the policy also might run contrary to Virginia Freedom of Information laws.

What people charged with both misdemeanors and felonies have to fear are pre-trial jail stays that once would have lasted for hours and now may stretch into days, said Randy Dixon, of ASAP Bail Bonds in Bristol, Va.

“It could be construed as a violation to a person’s right to bond,” he said.

Steve Clear, deputy superintendent of the Southwest Regional Jail, could not offer a definite reason for the policy change, saying only that his jail does not always have a new inmate’s criminal charges or bond information on file.

“What we’re trying to do is make sure that we don’t give out inaccurate information,” he said by telephone Monday.

Clear said the new policy was implemented about four months ago.

Dixon regularly fields pre-dawn calls from frantic family members desperate to win the release of someone just jailed. With a quick call to the jail, Dixon could verify the who, what, when and where initially given to him. A responsive jail is especially handy when it comes to ferreting out the facts of an arrest often not entirely understood by family members, he said.

The alternative is to either seek the information from the magistrate who set the bond or find the inmate’s file at the local courthouse.

“If the guy calls and wants to be bonded out at 3 on a Saturday morning, where am I going to go?” Dixon asked. “You want me to keep him in jail until the [court] clerk gets
back?”

Two weeks ago, Dixon faxed Clear a request for information on three inmates. Clear, in his March 17 response, mentioned nothing about trying to avoid giving out inaccurate
information.

Instead, Clear stated that such inmate information was exempt from Virginia open records laws.

In his letter, he pointed to a Virginia code section that exempts from public requests “all records of persons imprisoned in penal institutions in the Commonwealth provided such records relate to the imprisonment.”

Clear noted this code section when contacted by the Herald Courier, but only after noting that the jail’s files contain limited information.

Open records advocate Megan Rhyne, associate director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, argues that Clear is citing an exception intended to protect inmate records that deal with health, attorney visits and disciplinary matters.

“It doesn’t involve policy related to overall detention,” she said.

Alan Gernhardt, of the state’s own Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, agreed.

“It doesn’t make any sense that they would [withhold information] if it’s a part of the open record in a court,” Gernhardt said.

He also pointed to a Virginia code section that opens to the public “information in the custody of law-enforcement agencies relative to the identity of any individual, other than a juvenile, who is arrested and charged, and the status of the charge or arrest shall be released.”

In the phone interview, Clear said that his jail’s policy is similar to standards held by other regional jails in Virginia.

“Other jail authorities, they don’t even give out whether [an inmate] is there or not,” he said, laughing.

However, the Herald Courier could not find another regional jail with a similar closed-records policy.

“I can give you that information. That’s no secret,” laughed the records clerk at the Middle Peninsula Regional Jail in Saluda, located on the eastern coast of Virginia.
A call to the Bristol Virginia jail also elicited laughter from the sheriff’s deputy who fielded the call.

“I know why you’re calling and what you’re talking about and yes, we give out that information,” the deputy said.

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