Opened in September 1990 in a ceremony presided over by Governor of Virginia L. Douglas Wilder, the $106 million facility was built to provide initial relief to the then overcrowded Virginia correctional system. The facility opening allowed for the subsequent closure of the Virginia State Penitentiary in downtown Richmond. The execution chamber moved from the former state penitentiary to Greensville in 1991. Initially, the center was classified as a maximum security facility. However, with the subsequent opening of other facilities intended for the most hardened violent criminals, the security classification at Greensville has been lowered to medium security. There is a double perimeter fence topped with razor wire as well as six high guard towers to bolster perimeter security. The facility consists of 4 pod-style buildings arranged in a hexagon in a campus-like setting. The tract of land upon which the Correctional Center is constructed measures. It is located one mile from Interstate 95. The primary contractor for the project was Morrison-Knudsen. In 1995, a minimum-security work camp for low-risk inmates was constructed adjacent to the main complex. Together, the two facilities have a capacity of 3,007 inmates. The facility contains a dedicated health care unit and mental health center which serves inmates in the eastern region of the Virginia corrections system. It is also home to the state death chamber, which was completed in April 1991. There have been 111 executions by electrocution or lethal injection that have taken place in the L Building, located at the rear of the facility. The unit containing condemned prisoners was nicknamed "Hellsville" by the inmates.
Inmates Executed at Greensville Correctional Center
Timothy Wilson Spencer – known as the Southside Strangler; executed on April 27, 1994.
Mir Qazi – perpetrator of the 1993 CIA shootings; executed by lethal injection in 2002.
Earl Bramblett – executed in 2003.
John Allen Muhammad - Known as the beltway sniper for the Beltway Sniper Attacks; executed November 10, 2009.
