Sherrif's Office


The multiple missions of the Newport News Sheriff's Office include the administration of the Newport News Jail, the serving of all legal papers and summons, the execution of court orders, providing security for all City courts, providing transportation, as ordered, of prisoners throughout the State to directed destinations, and enforcement of the laws of the Commonwealth and the City of Newport News.  

The Sheriff’s Office has an annual budget exceeding $11 million, and a staff of approximately 200 people.  The office is comprised of three main divisions: the Operations Bureau, the Professional Standards Bureau, and the Services Bureau.  In addition, special units are trained and equipped to respond to specific critical incidents, including the Canine Unit, the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team (SERT), and the Search and Rescue (SAR) Team.  

The Sheriff’s Office faces operational challenges because of severe overcrowding in the city jail, increased inmate care costs, and personnel turnover.  To meet the space and staffing demands associated with a growing inmate population and the increasing caseload in the courts, steps must be taken to provide more jail space and employ more deputies.  

Correctional Operations

Among the responsibilities of the Sheriff's Office is the operation of the City's jail. The Operations Bureau manages the facility, ensures the security and safety of inmates, and administers inmate services.  Inmate services include education and substance abuse programs that focus on reducing the number of repeat offenders.

City Jail Overcrowding

Over the past decade, the jail has experienced an alarming increase in inmate population without a corresponding increase in facilities or staffing levels. At any given time, there are 1,100 to 1,200 prisoners for which the Sheriff’s Office is responsible.  These prisoners are housed in three facilities: the local jail and regional jail, both of which are overcrowded, and City Farm. Overcrowding leads to morale issues for both the staff and inmates, and can lead to increased inmate violence and unsanitary conditions.   

Finding a long-range solution to the overcrowded and outdated city jail is a priority for the Sheriff’s Office. The city jail has a rated capacity of 248 inmates and has been overcrowded for a long time. In 1995, the average daily inmate population was 419; and, in 2005, the average daily inmate population was 656.   The regional jail, jointly operated by Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth and Norfolk, also is crowded; and, it costs the City $255,000 a month to house 274 prisoners there.  The City Farm, which is a separate minimum security facility run by the Adult Corrections Department, can house approximately 250 inmates, who provide valuable services to the City including street and median maintenance.   Often, inmates who may be eligible for the City Farm are incarcerated at city jail because they cannot afford bail and must remain there until they are sentenced.  Inmates cannot be transferred to City Farm until they have been sentenced.  

The high jail population can be attributed to the zero tolerance policy of the Newport News Police Department combined with aggressive drug enforcement and criminalization of drug usage.  A very high percentage of jail inmates are incarcerated for drug related crimes. Although 39% of the City’s population is black, over 80% of the jail population is black.  

As a short-term solution to the overcrowding at the city jail, the City is converting the former juvenile detention facility into a jail annex.  Located across the street from the jail, the annex will provide an additional 90 beds emergency capacity. The combination of electronic monitoring, which has the potential to reduce jail population by 70 inmates, and temporary use of the City Farm for 42 minimum security, pre-disposition prisoners should help further relieve jail overcrowding.

Relocating the City Farm to another site and building a new jail on city property in the vicinity of I-64 and Ft. Eustis Boulevard has been part of the City’s comprehensive plan for several years.  But the lack of funding has delayed the proposed City Farm relocation for many years. In the long run, the City’s and nation’s response to drug usage needs careful study and evaluation to develop responsible, efficient and less costly alternatives to incarceration, especially for first-time drug users.  

City Jail Staffing

According to the Virginia State Compensation Board's formula, the city jail should have 205 deputies. However, current staffing at the city jail is 175 deputies. This low staffing level is due to the increased workload in other divisions of the Sheriff's Office and difficult challenges in recruitment and retention of deputies.  

Professional Standards

The Professional Standards Bureau is responsible for ensuring that the staff of the Sheriff’s Office adheres to its own policies and procedures.  The bureau is comprised of four sections: Compliance and Accreditation, Internal Investigations, Professional Development and Training, and Recruitment and Retention.  Currently, the recruitment and retention of deputies is a key focus for this division.  

Civil Process

The Services Bureau of the Sheriff's Office is responsible for serving and processing all legal and civil papers within the City of Newport News. Deputies serve a variety of court documents and execute many different court orders such as witness subpoenas, civil warrants, show cause summons, protective orders, custody matters, and court ordered repossessions. These papers originate from courts throughout the Commonwealth as well as courts from other states.  An estimated 150,000 documents are processed annually. On average, 80% of the population is served with some form of court document every year. The division’s workload is expected to increase to an estimated 170,000 services annually.

Court Security  

The Services Bureau is responsible for courtroom and courthouse security in the City's thirteen courts. Its mission is to protect all persons who enter the courts.  

The Newport News court system processes 155,846 court cases per year and is one of the safest in Virginia. In 1990 the City opened the courthouse located at 2500 Washington Avenue with four Circuit courts. Since then two new courtrooms were added to meet the demands of the growing caseload. Although the number of courts increased, staffing levels have not grown. This has made it difficult to meet current security demands.  Violence in courts experienced elsewhere requires deputies at all court entrances.  The State Compensation Board’s staffing measures has not allocated additional positions for these duties. To keep the City's courts safe, there must be additional deputies for security, improved metal detectors, x-ray machines, and the installation of surveillance cameras. 

Transportation  

Transportation is the section of the Services Bureau responsible for transporting prisoners between State correctional facilities and other jails in the Commonwealth.  Beginning in FY 2007, the transportation section will assume transportation of mentally disturbed persons for the Newport News Police Department.  This will free police officers to protect citizens. From February 2005 through December 2005, 2,087 inmates were transported by the Sheriff.