Transfers of Inmates Take Toll On Families; Visiting a Prisoner in Another State Can Be Difficult and Expensive

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Connecticut is compact, barely 100 miles from end to end. Yet, when Barbara Fair and Anne McNamara want to visit their sons, they face a drive of eight or nine hours - to a small Virginia town where 500 Connecticut men are imprisoned for lack of cells in their own state.

"It's a big expense, but a necessary expense," said McNamara, whose son is serving 25 years for manslaughter. "If they can't see the face of a loved one, and know they have support on the outside, what's the incentive to behave, to learn, to work, to look for the day they can be free?"

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Transfers of Inmates Take Toll On Families; Visiting a Prisoner in Another State Can Be Difficult and Expensive

Grueling and costly as the 500-mile trip from Connecticut to Jarratt, Va., can be, it is short compared to the distances separating some families with an inmate relative.

Hawaii sends prisoners to Oklahoma; Alaska ships them to Arizona. Vermont has just signed a contract to house up to 700 inmates in private prisons in Kentucky and Tennessee.

In all, according to an Associated Press survey, ...

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