Greensville Correctional Center
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Greensville Correctional Center is a prison facility constructed in Jarratt, Virginia operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Opened in September, 1990 in a ceremony presided over by Governor L. Douglas Wilder, the $106 million facility was built to provide initial relief to the then overcrowded Virginia correctional system. The facility opening allowed for the subsequent closure of two century old Virginia State Penitentiary in downtown Richmond.
Initially, the Center was classified as being a maximum security facility. It was constructed as a series of 4 pod style buildings (three have a capacity for 516 inmates each, the fourth can handle 192 higher-risk inmates) arranged in a semi-circle in a 125 acre campus like setting. The tract of land upon which the Correctional Center is constructed measures 1,105 acres - situated one mile away from Interstate 95. The primary contractor for the project was Morrison-Knudsen.
However, with the subsequent opening of other facilities intended for the most hardened violent criminals, the security classification at Greensville has been lowered to medium security. There is a double perimeter fence topped with razor wire as well as six 52 foot high guard towers to bolster perimeter security.
In 1995, a minimum security work camp for low risk inmates was constructed adjacent to the main complex. Together, the two facilities have a capacity of 3,007 inmates.
The facility also has a dedicated health care unit for inmates in the eastern region of the Virginia corrections system, a dedicated mental health unit. It also is the home of the state death chamber, which was completed in April, 1991 -- delayed by some debate as to which Virginia prison facility should succeed the Penitentiary as the site for judicial executions. Eighty-seven executions by electrocution or lethal injection have occurred in the L Building, located at the rear of the facility.
