Virginia will take in as many as 300 inmates from Wyoming prisons in a contract that could be worth as much as $18.5 million during the next two years.

Just last year, Virginia officials warned that the number of state prisoners projected to be added to its 33,300-inmate system would require the construction of one new 1,000-bed prison a year for the next six years.

Yesterday Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said, "the forecast regarding the need for future prison bed space has not changed, and bed space is at a premium.

"However, this is hopefully a short-term solution to meet current needs of the DOC and the state," he said. Traylor said that "by bringing in out-of-state inmates, we are able to keep all state prison facilities open and all . . . employees working."

The alternative could be closing prisons and laying off employees, he said.

Traylor said the details about the contract were not available yesterday. He also said, "we cannot discuss any other contracts or negotiations at this time."

Melinda Brazil, spokeswoman for the Wyoming Department of Corrections, said the contract, signed March 20, runs to June 30, 2010, and that her department is authorized to spend up to $18.5 million.

The Wyoming inmates will be held at the high-security Wallens Ridge State Prison in Wise County and the state's new, medium-security Pocahontas State Correctional Center in Tazewell County, she said. Brazil said they should start arriving in the next few weeks.

"I kind of doubt we would be moving 300 right away," Brazil said.

The Wyoming system has 1,823 inmates. About 350 are being housed in Oklahoma.

Brazil said Wyoming has been sending inmates to other states for 10 years because of crowding there. She said a prison expected to open in January 2010 should relieve the crowding.

Inmates sent to Virginia could include those classified as high-security. Virginia has the final say-so on whom it accepts, she said.

Virginia has imported inmates for money previously. The state built too much prison space after parole was ended in 1995, and inmate population predictions proved too high.

As a result, by 2001, some 10 percent of the state's prison population -- 3,299 inmates -- were from elsewhere. They came from as nearby as the District of Columbia and from as far away as Hawaii. That same year, there were 71 inmates from Wyoming held at Wallens Ridge.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2001, the state grossed about $78 million for housing the out-of-state inmates.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com.