Coble to Visit West Virginia Prison

WASHINGTOND.C.)----The chairman of the House Judiciary panel with jurisdiction over federal criminal matters is scheduled to tour a West Virginia federal prison for women this weekend that has recently become well known for a celebrity inmate doing time there.  U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, will inspect the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia, on Sunday, January 30.

Congressman Coble, scheduled to leave for West Virginia on Thursday, January 27, to attend the 2005 House and Senate Republican planning meeting sponsored by the Congressional Institute, decided to add the prison tour to his itinerary since it is nearby.  The Federal Prison Camp in Alderson has been in the news lately because it is the current home of television host Martha Stewart, convicted of securities fraud, who is scheduled for release in March.

Rep. Coble said he will meet with Warden Deborah Hickey to discuss issues facing the facility which opened in 1927.  "I look forward to meeting Warden Hickey," Rep. Coble said, "who has graciously offered to meet me on Sunday to show me around the facility and allow me to see first-hand the conditions confronting the prisoners housed there.  This tour will be most helpful to me as our subcommittee tackles such matters as sentencing guidelines, inmate reentry, mandatory minimum sentences, and a whole range of issues that will be discussed during the 109^th Congress."

Congressman Coble will tour a federal prison camp that currently houses just under one thousand women.  More than 99% of the prison population is classified as minimum security and the average age is just under 40.  More than 61% are serving sentences for drug offenses and the average sentence length is almost 65 months.