By Sam Brown, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia extended its contract to keep Lawrenceville Correctional Center under private management until July 2024, despite efforts by lawmakers and protests by advocacy groups. 

Lawrenceville is the state's only privately operated prison. The medium-security facility opened in 1998 and was billed as a way for the state to save money. 

The GEO Group, based in Florida, has managed the prison since 2003. Its 15-year contract was set to end in 2018, but it has been extended twice.

Construction and operation costs would be lower than public prisons, said the former state corrections director in 1997, according to archived Richmond-Times Dispatch reports. The director thought the private prison would introduce "an exchange of ideas and friendly competition" to improve public and private facilities. 

But in recent years the facility has been criticized for the reported understaffing, building maintenance, drug overdoses, safety issues and violent activity. 

Lawrenceville is tied with Nottoway Correctional Center for the second-highest prison population in the state. The prison has 1,536 beds and houses approximately 1,260 people, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections October population report. 

"The reason why it has survived so long in this particular form is probably because it allows the state to operate a facility more cheaply than many other facilities," said Chuck Meire, deputy policy director of nonprofit civil and human rights firm JULIAN.

Privately operated prisons are "100%" less ethical and humane than state-run prisons, Meire said. 

"You should never have a corporation, whose primary motive is profit, taking over the responsibility of the government to incarcerate people," Meire said.

Democratic politicians and advocacy groups, such as the state American Civil Liberties Union and Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, agree and have introduced legislation and called for change. 

Legislators in 2020 proposed folding management of the facility under the state. 

VADOC looked at five comparable prisons as part of a requested study in 2020 and found the average cost of incarceration per inmate per day was $76.48. The per day cost was $51.55 at Lawrenceville. 

VADOC estimated state operation would push costs up to $67.99 per day per inmate. It would cost the state $38.46 million annually to manage Lawrenceville.

That was $9.3 million more than current management under the GEO Group.

Most of the cost increase was attributed to the need for "adequate relief staffing and to address operational security needs" at Lawrenceville. The VADOC staffing plan would increase the number of correctional officers by nearly 100. Staff would also be paid more at a state rate.

The annual budget for VADOC is currently $1.5 billion. 

Staffing issues 

There were 300 staff employed at Lawrenceville in 1998. The prison was promoted as a way to supply local jobs, according to archived reports.

VADOC deducted $4.3 million in contract breaches due to understaffing since 2018, according to memos obtained by Virginia Mercury. Over $600,000 of those violations were from a lack of medical staff.

VADOC would not say what it considers an adequate staffing ratio when contacted, and said to contact the GEO Group. The GEO Group did not respond to an email or phone call request by time of publication.

However, VADOC noted Lawrenceville had a 40% higher staff-to-inmate ratio than other similarly sized facilities, in its 2020 report. Lack of relief staffing was noted as a significant factor.

Low compensation levels were cited as an obstacle to recruit and retain staff. 

"The company has basically demonstrated an incapacity to fully staff their facility," Meire said.

The incarcerated population is impacted by a lack of staffing, according to Shawn Weneta, policy strategist for ACLU Virginia. Weneta was incarcerated for 16 years, with seven spent in Lawrenceville.

"What that also means is the facility can't provide recreation like they're supposed to, they can't provide classes like they're supposed to, they can't provide programs like they're supposed to," Weneta said. "They can't even let people out of their cells because they don't have the staff to supervise people."

Drug Overdoses

The prison had the highest number of suspected and confirmed overdoses in the state prison system in 2022, accounting for 28%, according to a records request filed by CBS 6 WTVR-TV. 

Twelve inmates died in fiscal year 2022, according to the news report. Drugs are smuggled in through various methods and people, including visitors and staff, according to the GEO Group senior vice-president James Black. People have been arrested attempting to smuggle in drugs and phones by drone. 

"The Virginia Department of Corrections is laser-focused on preventing drugs and contraband from entering all of its facilities and will punish those caught smuggling into facilities to the fullest extent of the law," stated Kyle Gibson, VADOC director of communications, in an email statement.

Staff could be tempted to smuggle in drugs or look the other way through bribery, the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy stated in its report last year on conditions at the prison. 

People die in prison while serving their sentence, but they weren't sentenced to die, Weneta said.

"Staff is bringing in lethal drugs that are killing dozens of people in our prisons," Weneta said. "It's tragic and the public should care about it and we should be paying more attention to it and we should be doing things to address it."

Violence and deferred maintenance

There is a history of violence and injuries to the people incarcerated in the facility, though these issues persist at state-run facilities as well. There have been at least three incidents requiring hospitalization since August, including one where a prisoner was stabbed. 

The GEO Group has revealed few details of the incidents to the media, and told ABC 8 WRIC-TV they take the incidents "with the utmost seriousness" and would continue to work diligently with VADOC.

VADOC also reported if the state assumed management, it would need to address the issue of at least $10 million in estimated deferred maintenance and capital repairs. Security electronics, communication, and camera systems also need "significant attention."

 The facility replaced the wooden doors this year because it found that they did not properly contain the population, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The facility is "falling apart," Weneta said, with sewage coming up through the floor and issues with air conditioning. 

Failed attempts

The General Assembly has knocked down attempts to de-privatize the management of Lawrenceville.

Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, introduced measures in 2020 and 2021 to prevent the state from using a private contract. 

The bills failed to advance out of Democratic-led Senate committees. Of the 14 senators on the committee, all 11 who voted against the 2021 bill received campaign donations from the GEO Group between 2020-22. 

The managing group donated $139,250, mostly split between parties, in the past three years that conversation ramped up around private management of the facility, according to campaign donations on the Virginia Public Access Project.

Sen. Barbara Favola D-Arlington, who voted in support of Ebbin's bill, would either like to see heavy regulations on Lawrenceville or have the facility completely taken back by the state.

"If we're going to do it, I would like to have a fair amount of regulations to sort of ensure quality, but I am in the corner of having the state operate the [prisons] rather than trying to improve a private sector model," Favola said.

Ebbin is still sorting out which bills he will file in the upcoming session, he said.

Lawmakers passed a budget in September that will fund $250,000 for a VADOC ombudsman. The person in this role will provide information to incarcerated people, family members and VADOC employees. They will also monitor conditions and make facility recommendations, among other responsibilities. 

 The budget also created a Corrections Oversight Committee with 13 members, that will include legislators and governor appointees. Two formerly incarcerated people will be appointed, along with a representative from a nonprofit group that advocates for prisoners. 

National Trends

A lack of funds and overcrowding led to the start of prison privatization in the 1980s, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Privatization took off fairly quickly after that. The number of people incarcerated in private prisons worldwide in 1987 was 3,100. Eleven years later, the number had risen to 132,000.

The GEO Group is one of the largest private prison management companies in the nation. It also manages facilities in South Africa and Australia. 

The number of privately operated prisons has increased in the U.S. but not at the previous pace. The private prison population across the country increased overall by 10% from 2000-21, according to the Sentencing Project.

Twenty-seven U.S. states use private prisons. 

Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, North Dakota and Florida are the top five states where the private prison population increased in two decades. Arizona's increased by 415%, according to data from the Sentencing Project. 

The use of private prisons is inconsistent from state to state. Montana holds nearly half of their incarcerated people in private prisons. 

Virginia's private prison population size is just over 5% of overall incarcerated people in the state. 

By Chloe Sutterfield, Capital News Service; Jason Tejeda Molina, VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va. – The state needs to better fund the education of English language learners, despite recent budget increases, teachers in the field say.

Educators report that English learners have increased needs since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but there are not enough teachers or allocated funds, according to a Joint Legislative Audit and Commission review this year of Virginia's K-12 funding. The commission evaluates state agencies and writes policy analysis at the request of the state legislature. 

The state Standards of Quality formula used to calculate staffing does not adequately account for higher needs students. It underestimates the number of second language teachers needed. The state's calculation of teachers needed was 47% of the number estimated as needed by workgroups that contributed to the JLARC report.

The state's ratio is one teacher per 50 English learner students. However, the average school division employed one English as a second language teacher for every 19.5 students. Workgroups still estimated that more teachers were needed. 

One workgroup member described "excessively high caseloads" of over 100 English learner students per teacher, according to the JLARC report. 

Virginia school divisions serve over 117,000 students whose primary language is not English, or about 10% of the student population, according to the Virginia Department of Education.

ESL program funding

State ESL funding has increased since 2019. The General Assembly appropriated $106.86 million for ESL this fiscal year to support 20 instructional positions per 1,000 English learner students. Local school divisions provide a match, based on an ability-to-pay index. 

There are a couple of factors that play into ESL program funding.

Laura Goren is the director of research and education policy at the Commonwealth Institute, a public policy advocacy group.

Virginia has struggled to fund education for a number of years, especially for English learner programs, Goren said.

"We have not made as much progress in increasing funding for English language learners," Goren said. "I think that's an area where Virginia needs to do a whole lot more and we haven't made the progress we need to make."

Local governments have to provide funding to make up for inadequate state support, Goren said. 

 "Some local governments are much more able to pick up the slack and fund the schools than other local governments." 

English learners had the most significant drop in state achievement scores of any student groups measured for state reading, math and science tests in 2021, according to the Commonwealth Institute. 

But, Virginia ESL proficiency rates had already dropped 11.3% for fourth grade learners from 2009 to 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Education. 

The state has just started to lift a cap on support positions that has been in place over a decade. 

But advocates say that English learners require more funding per pupil. English learners need up to 2 to 2.5 times more funding than other students, according to a study cited in a VPM report last year.

Jo-el Cox is the VDOE coordinator for English learner instruction. She provides technical assistance to educators, supports state and federal programming initiatives, and relays information on how to best support ESL students. 

VDOE offers multiple training opportunities for ESL teachers to learn how to work with their students. They also have tools that help students and their families.

"This year we created a course in Canvas where individuals can log in and learn about the program models," Cox said.

 There are five U.S. Department of Education's Language Instruction Educational Program, or LIEP, program modules in Virginia: transitional bilingual, dual immersion, English language development, content with integrated support and newcomer programs.

ESL programs are still recovering from COVID-19, in terms of student growth and student gains, according to Cox.

"I think not having that face-to-face in-person interaction consistently during COVID in some of our school divisions, really didn't do anything to support their learning and further their learning," Cox said.

The importance of ESL programs 

More people are coming to the U.S. from other countries, according to Sarah Modrak. She is an LIEP education specialist. 

Immigrant naturalization dipped in 2020 with borders and offices closed because of the pandemic. But since 2022, U.S. citizenship has increased by numbers not seen for more than a decade, according to Pew Research.

Modrak is also the supervisor for the Welcome Center at Tucker High School in Henrico County. The center helps ESL students register for school. Henrico County Public Schools has a variety of resources to support ESL students, Modrak said.

The Welcome Center was created to support students and their families through the transition to a new school.

"It's not easy for a family who has just arrived to kind of go through that registration process, to get all of the paperwork and documents that are required," Modrak said. "So it was a place where we could really spend more time in getting that process started as well."

The Welcome Center was impacted by COVID-19, according to Modrak. When everything moved online the center needed a new registration system so families had more options to get into schools. 

 Allyn Pritchard is a secondary lead LIEP teacher in Henrico. She teaches in multiple languages to cater to her students' primary language. Pritchard also helps teachers by assisting them with accommodations.

English learner programs look different now as a result of the pandemic, but not all of the changes have been negative. Schools are now able to connect with students and families in more convenient ways, according to Pritchard. She could not say if the changes have been easier or harder -- just different.

"I feel like there are more resources now than maybe we had before COVID to meet students where they are," Pritchard said. "The other thing is to be able to meet with families if we can't see families face to face."

ESL students want to learn, and it is important to have a variety of resources to support them in all aspects of their lives, Pritchard said.

"I definitely find there are more 'aha' moments," Pritchard said. "When students are learning English out of necessity, it's a great sense of accomplishment when a student comes in for the first time and they greet you before you greet them."

VCU InSight journalist Jason Tejeda Molina contributed to this report.

Helpline calls spike with Virginia gambling expansion 

By Kaitlyn McMahon, Capital News Service; Video by Mario Navarro, VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va. -- More money is being funneled into Virginia's problem gambling services, but advocates say increased gambling demands more resources for help. 

Virginia ranked near the bottom of all states in the amount of money directed toward problem gambling before casino and sports betting were legalized. The Problem Gambling Treatment and Support fund was created in 2020 when gambling expanded in Virginia. Collection of revenues into the fund began in January 2021. 

Before 2021, the Virginia Lottery directed approximately $75,000 annually to the fund, according to VPM. Casinos are now required to put .8% of a statutory tax into casino adjusted gross revenue, the money left after winning bets are paid, into the gambling help fund. Sports wagering sends 2.5% of taxed AGR to the fund. 

Fifteen states increased their budget 5% or more between 2021 and 2022, according to the National Association of Administrators for Disordered Gambling Services. 

Virginia significantly bumped up its support in 2022, and gave around $2 million to problem gambling services, according to numbers from NAADGS.

A report prepared for the General Assembly in 2019 estimated that effective problem gambling prevention and treatment could cost $2 million to $6 million annually.

Sports bettors are setting record breaking amounts of wagers. The state is collecting more tax revenue than was forecast four years ago, according to the Virginia Mercury. 

Bettors used mobile apps to wager $565.56 million on sports in October, according to the most recent Virginia Lottery report. They wagered over $5.78 million through a casino sportsbook. 

That left $56.36 million combined sports betting AGR for the state to tax. 

The taxable amount from slots and table games at all three casinos combined in October was $49.56 million.

The AGR is similar but sports wagering sends more money to the problem gambling fund. Casino play contributed $72,887 toward the fund in October and sports betting contributed $213,754.

The majority of gamblers are not using casinos to access Virginia's 16 legal sports books.

Caesars Casino in Danville holds the highest share of casino sports betting at almost 6.5%. FanDuel is the state's No. 1 sportsbook with 40% of the market share, according to the state lottery October gaming compliance report. DraftKings is No. 2 with 28%.

Views on sports betting

Northern Virginia resident Cristian Lazo, age 21, began sports betting in May. He places weekly bets using DraftKings. Lazo uses online sports betting as opposed to in-person due to convenience. 

Lazo was already a sports fan, and decided to earn some money.

"Betting on it can make watching the sport better sometimes," Lazo said.

Sports betting isn't uncommon among Lazo's friends. He mostly bets on football and soccer games, and he's won "a good amount of bets."

"I think the total amount of money I've won is somewhere around $350 to $400," Lazo said.

Lazo said he "technically" hasn't lost any money because of the rewards program that he takes advantage of. He puts some of his winnings toward other wagers. 

Brendan Dwyer is the director of research and distance learning at the Center for Sports Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University. An associate professor, he has degrees in economics and sports administration.

"Sports betting is something that makes the sports industry more attractive," Dwyer said. "It's better for games and it's better for the consumer."

About 19% of Americans, or 1 in 5, reported sports betting in a 12-month period, the Pew Research Center reported last year. That includes online, with a friend or at a casino. Most people who bet are under the age of 50. 

A majority see sports gambling as neither bad nor good for society. Only 8% saw it as a good thing for society, and a slightly higher amount saw it as good for sports. 

About a third of people surveyed view gambling as bad for society and sports. 

There are more positives than negatives, according to Dwyer, who does not think sports betting is going away "any time soon." 

"As long as we identify who the major groups are that need to be aware of the challenges, I think it is something that should be supported by the leagues, the teams, by state legislatures because of the revenue that they get from it," Dwyer said. 

Sports betting shifts younger

Gambling age demographics have shifted nationwide due to the recent legalization in many states. 

Lia Nower is director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University.

"Overall, men have the highest rates of gambling problems as well as emerging adults, ages 21 to 25, followed by ages 26 to 44," stated Nower.

In-person gambling trends older while online casinos and sports betting trends younger, according to Nower. 

The state helpline has seen a shift in the age of callers, which used to be older individuals who had been gambling for years before developing a problem, according to Carolyn Hawley.

Hawley works with the Virginia Lottery-funded problem gambling helpline as president of the Virginia Council on Problem Gambling. She is also an associate professor in the department of rehabilitation counseling at VCU.

"We've seen a huge shift, and this has been seen nationwide with also the onset of sports betting legalization, is a much younger demographic," Hawley said. "People who are starting to develop problems really quick ... it's that speed, that repetitive nature, that works with dopamine and just you know, accelerates that addictive process."

 Roughly 2% of Virginia's population could be impacted by problem gambling, the state's Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services commissioner said earlier this year. 

Substance use disorders in the U.S. are 3.8 times more common than gambling disorders, according to the VCPG. But public funding for substance abuse treatment is about 334 times greater than public funding for all problem gambling services, or $24.4 billion versus $73 million, respectively, according to the VCPG.

Spike in helpline calls

The state problem gambling helpline has seen a 788% increase in total calls between 2019 and 2022, in part due to increased advertising of the services, according to Hawley. 

"Since launching treatment and recovery services for Virginians last year, the need for these services is outpacing our resources," Hawley said. 

Helpline operations are covered by Virginia Lottery funds. But the education, prevention and other activities of the Virginia Council on Problem Gambling are covered by membership fees, according to Hawley, and are not guaranteed from year to year. 

Virginia used to be a "conservative" gambling state, Hawley said.

"We had our three main forms of gambling which was lottery, horse wagering and charitable, and since 2019 we just exploded with the forms of gambling that are now available and legal," Hawley said.

Substance abuse disorder and gambling disorder share a lot of the same characteristics, according to Hawley.

"Gambling can often be more insidious because you can't smell it, you can't see it, people are very good at hiding it," Hawley said.

There are also high rates of suicide among people with a gambling addiction, according ot Hawley. 

Problem gambling has the highest rate of suicide among addiction disorders, with 1 in 5 attempting suicide, according to the nonprofit Health Resources in Action. A very high number of people with problem gambling meet criteria for other mental illnesses.

How to get started with help

Some signs that could indicate an individual has a gambling addiction, according to Hawley:

• Gambling is interfering with life and causing problems.

• A lot of time is spent thinking about gambling and planning the next gambling activity.

• More time spent gambling than other activities the individual used to enjoy. 

• It takes more to get that same level of excitement.

• It is hard to cut back or stop.

The VCPG helpline 1-888-532-3500.

VCU InSight journalist Mario Navarro contributed to this report.

By Jimmy Sidney, Capital News Service

Video by Anna Parada, VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia will break ground on several long-awaited rail projects next year and has started to announce construction partners.

Virginia's investment in its passenger rail infrastructure aims to reduce chronic traffic, decrease its carbon footprint and catch up to states with a competitive state-run passenger rail service, such as New York, and Illinois. The new focus on investment comes after decades of neglect. 

Flash back to a late March afternoon at Alexandria Station in 2021. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg sits masked on stage as then-Gov. Ralph Northam announces a $3.7 billion investment in the state's passenger rail over a 10-year span. 

Flash forward two years, and 9 of the initial 15 projects overseen by the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority will soon leave the station. 

The VPRA oversees all state-supported passenger rail services. The General Assembly created the agency in 2020 to keep up the momentum and shield public infrastructure projects from wavering political sentiment.

"Regardless of who's in office, I'm pretty confident that they've been in rush hour traffic before and they've been frustrated by congestion," said DJ Stadtler, VPRA executive director. "We've got such a compelling mission that we shield ourselves from that kind of political up and down." 

Stadtler worked at Amtrak for 12 years in various executive roles prior to his work with the VPRA. He's the organization's first and only executive director. Amtrak is a partner in some VPRA efforts to transform rail service in Virginia.

"When you're looking at adding infrastructure, Virginia is actually way ahead of the game," said DJ Stadtler, VPRA executive director. "We've got the projects that are ready, they're being designed now."

Coming down the line

Nine projects are in varied states of preliminary engineering. That includes projects to the underserved but growing regions in Southwest Virginia and along the heavily trafficked Interstate-95 corridor between Richmond and Washington, D.C. At least a million passengers and millions of tons of freight ride the rails there annually.

The VPRA announced on Wednesday the selection of three construction partners for two major projects. 

One is the northern part of the Long Bridge project. 

The current Long Bridge, a two-track, 119-year-old piece of infrastructure owned by CSX, has become a choke point for passenger and freight trains alike. It operates at 98% capacity during peak travel hours. 

A two-track railroad bridge dedicated to passenger rail will be constructed next to the old Long Bridge. CSX will retain ownership of the original bridge and use it for freight traffic exclusively. 

Skanska and Flatiron were announced as the companies that will move the project from design to completion, with prep work starting next year and full construction beginning in early 2025. Skanska USA worked on the Moynihan Train Hall at New York Penn Station. Flatiron Corp. worked on the completed sections of the California High-Speed Rail project.

The new bridge will double rail capacity over the Potomac River and allow for almost hourly service between Washington D.C. and Richmond when completed in 2030.

The south part of the Long Bridge project will create a two-track passenger rail bridge over the Potomac River, and an adjacent bicycle-pedestrian bridge that connects trails and parks in Arlington to those in Washington D.C. VPRA will consider requests for proposals in February 2024. 

The entire Long Bridge project is projected to cost $2.3 billion. 

Flatiron and Herzog Contracting Corp. will work on the Franconia-Springfield bypass, the VPRA announced Wednesday. Herzog worked on the Brightline expansion of rail service in Orlando. 

Bypass work will create a dedicated passenger rail bridge under one mile long, south of the Franconia-Springfield Metro station. The area is one of the most congested points in Virginia, according to the VPRA. A $100 million grant was awarded for this project in September. It is slated to cost approximately $405 million. Full construction will start in March 2024 and last two years.

There are multiple phases of the work VPRA will do along the I-95 corridor, with varied completion dates. The first two phases will add a combined 37 miles of additional track. Eventually, passengers will gain access to additional Amtrak round trips along I-95, and additional round trips and weekend service on the Virginia Railway Express Fredericksburg Line.

Other capital projects include increased service to Newport News and Norfolk, expansion of rail service to the New River Valley for the first time since 1979, and improved service between Richmond and Raleigh, North Carolina. 

North Carolina on Tuesday announced a $1 billion U.S. Department of Transportation grant toward the Richmond to Raleigh project. That southern route will create a faster, more direct route between the cities. 

In a broader sense, the Long Bridge connects Washington D.C. to the entirety of the Southeastern U.S. All northbound passenger trains from this region terminate in Washington, D.C. 

 "We're strong partners with other states like North Carolina," Stadtler said. "They know that all of the infrastructure that they're investing in is useless unless we deliver the Long Bridge because that really opens the capacity for everybody." 

Driving train ridership

 VPRA-led work appears to have increased interest in passenger rail. A record 1.26 million people rode Amtrak or Virginia Railway Express in the last fiscal year. The all-time monthly ridership record of 119,280 passengers was set in August 2022.

Erika Olivo-Espinoza is a college student who regularly takes the train between her Northern Virginia home and school in Richmond. Amtrak has pretty good diversity among its Virginia ridership, she said. 

"I've seen a lot of students use Amtrak to go home as well," Olivo-Espinoza said. "I've also seen a lot of older people who can't drive, and also some families."

Olivo-Espinoza prefers Amtrak to other methods of transportation, like the bus, due to its speed, frequency and amenities.

"I took the train because I didn't have a car, it was just the most convenient thing for me, and it's not a long ride and they do have Wi-Fi," Olivo-Espinoza said. "They have good services."

The freight problem

Countries overseas have, for the most part, dedicated railways for passenger travel, according to Stadtler. 

American passenger rail competes with freight railroads, which own the vast majority of trackage in the U.S. Freight trains stacked with cargo are long and slow-moving. Passenger trains need to go a lot faster. The two often get in each other's way.

"Historically in our country, whenever we've wanted to add passenger rail, the freight railroads have said 'well, it's our track, we're not going to do that,'" Stadtler said. 

The U.S. standard is to negotiate track-sharing agreements with freight railroads, but the VPRA knew a different approach was needed to expand passenger rail.

"Let's go to the freight railroads," Stadtler said. "Let's find out where we need to add capacity so we can literally put passenger trains on a different track."

Virginia bought hundreds of miles of track from private freight railroads such as CSX and Norfolk Southern, at a total cost of $563 million. This investment will give passenger trains the right of way, make improvements to neglected rail infrastructure and increase train frequency.

Redesigning rail safety

New rail infrastructure projects, especially along the I-95 corridor, will increase safety through design. Railroads will be routed above roadways via bridges and streets will be redesigned.

 Virginia is ranked 13th in U.S. railroad crossing collisions, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. Almost all U.S. railroad fatalities are a result of either pedestrians trespassing or collisions at railroad crossings.

"So when you close crossings you eliminate entrances or, you know, passageways across a track," said Margaret Cannell, state coordinator for North Carolina Operation Lifesaver.

Cannell pointed out that in Japan there are very few instances of vehicles or pedestrians hit by trains. High-speed trains in Japan travel up to 200 mph. In Virginia, Amtrak trains move at speeds up to 79 mph, but on average at 50 mph.

"It's because the train tracks are separated from vehicles and from people," Cannell said. "They're elevated or they're completely separated so that those paths don't cross."

North Carolina engaged in a series of rail improvements in the late 2010s called the Piedmont Corridor project. It was similar to the improvements Virginia is undertaking now. Over 48 North Carolina crossings were closed, according to Cannell. 

 The North Carolina Department of Transportation and VPRA are working closely together on projects, according to Cannell.

"They're fully invested in making sure that it's the safest that it can be and that the number of crossings that have to exist are minimal and they're as safe as they could be," Cannell said.

Cannell saw how impactful the North Carolina improvements were, and said Virginia's new focus is "a big deal" -- a "legacy" program.

"It's a big thing to be doing and the cooperation of CSX and VDOT has ... just completely made this a really great project," Cannell said. "One that people will be talking about using for many, many years to come."

Reporter Anna Parada of VCU InSight contributed to this report.

By Alyssa Hutton, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- Fatal overdose rates remain high in Virginia, even as the state begins to spread opioid settlement money to state and local agencies to help tackle the epidemic. 

Death from drug overdoses, opioids and fentanyl in particular, has remained the dominant method of unnatural death in Virginia since 2013, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Overdoses ticked slightly down last year, but the number is forecast to remain about the same or higher this year.

The state's opioid epidemic was officially declared a public health emergency in 2016, and opioid-related deaths increased 274% between 2012 and 2022, according to VDH data. The number of all fatal overdoses had a slightly lower spike in the same time period, at 228%.

Overdose deaths from fentanyl had the biggest jump, increasing 3,866% in that same time. 

Richmond, Roanoke, Petersburg, Portsmouth and Hopewell cities had the highest rate of fatal opioid overdoses in 2022. 

Virginia ranks 27th in the country for drug-related death rates and 15th for number of overall deaths, according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

'It was a point of desperation' 

Last year, Travis Williams realized that he felt miserable both on and off drugs. He lived mostly in isolation, going to work and coming home to use cocaine and heroin.

"It was a point of desperation where nothing was working no more," Williams said. "Didn't wanna go forward, didn't wanna go back."

He threw away all the drugs he had, including methadone, but said he didn't experience withdrawal, which he credits to God. 

"I don't want to kill myself, but I don't want to live like this no more," Williams said about the pivotal moment. 

He has been sober for almost a year. He works with his best friend Jesse Wysocki, who he said he used to shoot heroin with, but now they're both in recovery and helping others. 

Wysocki is the chief operating officer at the McShin Foundation, a community recovery organization in Richmond with 16 recovery homes.

The recovery program is 28 days long and available for anyone with substance use disorder, Wysocki said. 

McShin does not offer detox or clinical services, although they help connect people with those programs. 

McShin pairs people with a recovery coach. Wysocki, like most of the staff, are peer recovery specialists who have faced addiction. Peer recovery specialists are considered mentors and motivators to those struggling with addiction and go through a certification program by the Virginia Certification Board.

Wysocki says a recovery coach with experience helps in one's personal recovery and also to support others.

"Whether I was in prison, jail, different treatment centers, so I know a lot of the behaviors that are associated with it," Wysocki said. "So I'm able to help identify that, it helps me better assist who's here trying to get services."

For Williams, things came full circle when he was asked to work with McShin's intensive program. That's because of his first experience there in 2019. His then-recovery attempt ended with a relapse, and multiple doses of the medicine naloxone to reverse what could have been a fatal overdose — as it was for the friend he used with that night. 

"I let my guard down and my disease started working with me," Williams said. "If I just do a little bit, I'll feel good."

That fatal overdose triggered changes at McShin, Williams said. And he served a two and a half year stint in jail for violating his charges. 

When Williams eventually returned to McShin, he agreed to work at the intensive housing program because he felt he had unfinished business. 

"Just a little bit that I've learned, through that I can give it back ... I find that like very fulfilling," Williams said.

Williams is now a part of the McShin team that helps with the reentry transition from prison or jail.

3 in 4 overdoses from fentanyl

Fentanyl overdoses were over 75% of fatal overdoses in 2022 in Virginia. 

This year's number of fentanyl-related deaths is already over 1,000 and is expected to surpass last year's number, according to VDH data. Cocaine and methamphetamine-related fatal overdoses have spiked in recent years in Virginia, due to being more commonly mixed with fentanyl. 

Sgt. Kevin Wilson has been with the Virginia Beach Police Department for 18 years. He started with the narcotics unit of the special investigations department in 2010. 

Wilson began to see the rise in opioid-use, specifically heroin, followed by the rise of fentanyl, not long after he started work with the narcotics unit.

"The majority of stuff we get contains part if not all fentanyl," Wilson said. 

Most illegal sellers and distributors aren't chemists, so they'll add a very potent substance such as fentanyl, Wilson said. That means a person's normal dose could be more potent, which drives an increase in overdoses. People might not know what they are getting.

"The overall strategy would be to go after the highest level source of supply so we can cut the head off the snake," Wilson said. 

The industry is constantly evolving, he said, which presents challenges.

"Once you take somebody off the street another person's gonna take their place," Wilson said.

Wilson has notified many families that they've lost a loved one to an overdose.

"They want closure for themselves, for their loved one," he said. "So being able to backtrack and go and find who sold them the drugs that caused them to to die and then bring closure for the families is probably the most satisfying."

Virginia's response to epidemic

Prescription opioid overdoses began to drop in 2015, with a significant recent decrease. Opioid manufacturers, wholesale distributors and pharmacies have been sued for their contributions to the opioid epidemic through overprescribing, deceptive marketing and dispensing. 

The Virginia General Assembly established the Opioid Abatement Authority in 2021. The OAA provides funds for efforts that educate, treat and support recovery for people addicted to opioids, according to Anthony McDowell, executive director of the OAA.

Virginia's estimated share of settlement money from the pharmaceutical industry is approximately $1.1 billion, as of September, according to a press release from state Attorney General Jason Miyares. 

Grant applications for cities and counties began in January and the OAA approved over $23 million in June. This money is in the process of being transferred to its recipients, according to McDowell.

Localities requested OAA funding for a range of different tactics, according to McDowell.

"The cities and counties take stock of what the needs are at the community level and envision what it would take to address those needs and submit that in the form of a grant application to the OAA," McDowell said. 

The OAA also approved in August just under $11 million in funding for state agencies, including executive branch agencies, judicial offices and universities. Programs include clinical research, prevention and education, treatment, recovery and more. Approximately $2 million is earmarked for media and education campaigns.

The VDH will receive the highest allotment at $2.9 million for its four programs. The bulk of funding will go toward increasing access to naloxone, the generic form of Narcan, which can be used to reverse opioid overdoses. One million dollars will support harm reduction programs. The department will also hire three new "opioid specialists" for each health district.

The Virginia Department of Corrections will receive $1.25 million for programs such as hiring six social workers and creating an educational video. VADOC will also launch a pilot program to test the effectiveness of medicine used to treat moderate opioid use. The selected participants will use an injectable buprenorphine extended-release medication instead of suboxone.

Parental substance use is one of the reasons children are removed from their home. There was an increase of these cases from 2010-2019, according to the Virginia Department of Social Services. It's common for family or friends to assume guardianship when a child is removed from the home. These guardians receive support through a kinship navigator program. 

The DSS was given $205,500 to expand five kinship navigator programs, for the second half of 2024.

"As far as efforts that are being funded by the authority, it's too soon to be able to take stock of the results yet," McDowell said. 

A locality's use of settlement money depends on where the lawsuit originated, if they were a part of the lawsuit and whether the funds are being distributed directly from the settlement or from the OAA.

The OAA was recently nationally awarded for its settlement allocation efforts. 

The state has made it easier since 2016 to procure naloxone over the counter without a prescription. The state also has a program to train people to recognize an opioid overdose and administer naloxone. 

Patients cannot be prescribed more than a seven-day supply of controlled substances containing opioids, unless under certain conditions, due to a state law passed in 2017.