A surprise shakedown this month at Virginia's only private prison turned up a half-dozen cell phones.

Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, could not provide details yesterday but confirmed the phones were discovered during an unannounced search by state officials at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center on Dec. 7.

An independent study released in September found the prison had a problem with cell phones, drugs, other contraband and high staff turnover, but the study noted it was difficult to compare the scope of problems there with those in state-run prisons.

Nevertheless, members of the Virginia State Crime Commission, which met at the Lawrenceville prison in September, were assured by officials with the Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., that steps were being taken to improve security there.

Geo runs the 1,500-inmate, medium-security prison under a five-year, $95 million contract. More than 40 other correctional facilities in the state are run by the Virginia Department of Corrections.

In March, The Times-Dispatch, using state figures, reported that last year one in five cell phones confiscated in all state prisons were seized at Lawrenceville and that a highly disproportionate number of inmates were caught with drugs there.

However, authorities later said those figures were incomplete and gave a misleading picture of the contraband problem at Lawrenceville. Complete figures for cell phone, drug and other seizures in state prisons were not made available by prison officials.

Among other things, the independent study found that Lawrenceville had been targeting inmates suspected of using drugs for drug testing to a larger extent than in state prisons, where there is more of an emphasis on random testing.

The study found that in 2006, Lawrenceville inmates tested positive for drugs more than 19 percent of the time, four times the highest rate in six nearby state-run prisons and more than 20 times higher than at the state's Brunswick Correctional Center next door.

A Lawrenceville inmate, Eric L. Williams, 45, wrote in a Dec. 11 letter to The Times-Dispatch that a state strike team composed of officers from other prisons entered Lawrenceville Correctional Center around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 7.

Inmates were ordered to report to the gymnasium where they were searched, Williams said. He said the operation was conducted without the prior knowledge of Lawrenceville officers. Geo spokesman Pablo E. Paez declined to comment, referring questions to Traylor.

Williams, serving almost 45 years on robbery, escape and drug convictions in Arlington, said the prison had been searched recently by Lawrenceville officers. He said that on Dec. 7, each inmate had to sit in a metal-detecting chair, and he claimed there also were strip and body-cavity searches.

He said that as many as 40 inmates who had contraband or were deemed uncooperative were transferred to other prisons the next day.

Traylor would not confirm if any inmates had been transferred but wrote in an e-mail that "inmates that are caught concealing contraband may be subject to disciplinary procedures including criminal prosecution and transfer to a higher security prison facility."

Brunswick County Commonwealth's Attorney Lezlie Green could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Traylor said yesterday that the department now has several dogs trained to detect cell phones.

"We will be utilizing these dogs on a regular basis at all facilities for the purpose of finding cell phones and other contraband," he said.

Earlier this year, two former Lawrenceville officers caught with 14.6 grams of cocaine pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to deliver drugs to inmates, and a former lieutenant is facing a bribery charge after being accused of taking $2,000 from an inmate there.
Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com.