"Lawrence Frazier spent his last waking moments thrashing wildly, singing, shouting. His blood sugar was low, perilously so for a diabetic. But officials at Wallens Ridge supermax prison in southwest Virginia diagnosed his problem as 'behavioral,' not medical.

When he attempted to get up from his gurney, the guards shocked him with a 50,000-volt stun gun. Twice more, he tried to get up. Twice more, they shocked him, finally subduing the 50-year-old prisoner from Connecticut. Guards bound his hands and feet and strapped down his chest. He soon was unconscious, then five days later dead.

This account emerges from the Virgina Corrections Department's own incident report and the state's autopsy, part of a growing pile of once-secret documents made public as lawyers and officials from the states that rent space in Wallens Ridge demand answers.

A building spree that doubled Virginia's prison space in 1990s has prompted officials to make deals with other states to fill - and pay for - thousands of otherwise empty beds.

With the money has come scrutiny, opening a rare and revealing window into Wallens Ridge. Incident reports, monthly reports by on-site monitors and other documents won through litigation by prisoner advocates and furnished to The Washington Post portray Wallens Ridge as a prison where use of force is routine.

David C. Fathi, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, called Wallens Ridge 'one of the most brutally violent prisons in the United States in terms of its staff.'

Corrections Director Ronald J. Angelone, in a lengthy e-mail reply to questions by The Post, dismissed Fathi's description as 'legal hyperbole' and said the use of force protects the guards and inmates. Angelone also noted that the American Correctional Association has accredited Wallens Ridge.

'Wallens Ridge is now, as it has been since it opened, being run in a constitutionally sound manner and according to accepted correctional policies and procedures,' Angelone's statement said. 'Tnose policies, including use of force, are designed to maximize the safety and security of staff and inmates at that facility.

Virginia opened 12 new prisons and expanded others during the 1990s, doubling the number of beds to nearly 32,000 at a cost of $737 million. But prison populations didn't grow as much as expected. And Angelone, as the top prison official since 1994, has contracted with other states and federal officials to fill nearly 3,300 beds, about 10 percent of Virginia's capacity. The other governments pay Virginia $77 million a year, which amounts to 9 percent of the department's budget.

Rights groups started criticizing Wallens Ridge shortly after it opened in April 1999, focusing on the use of nonlethal rubber rounds to control prisoners. Virginia is one of only a handful of states to use firearms behind bars. And their use is key to the operation of the two supermax facilities, built to house what Angelone calls 'the worst of the worst,' hardened criminals and those who misbehave behind bars.

'Everywhere you go throughout this prison, there are officers with weapons who will be observing you,' guards, tell new inmates, according to a prison document. 'Any attempt on your part to assault staff or other inmates will be met with the use of firepower. Any failure on your part to follow verbal instructions from staff - for example, refusal to leave the mess hall, refusal to clear the yard, refusal to lock up - will be met with the immediate use of firepower. If you threaten the safe, orderly operation of this prison, we will use the force necessary to ensure that you comply.'

Last year's deaths of two Connecticut inmates, including Frazier, heightened controversy over the supermax facilities, though passions seemed to run stronger in the other states than in Virgina. Members of the Virginia Crime Commission visited Wallens Ridge last September, and several said the visit eased their concerns.

'I felt greatly relieved by what I saw,' said state Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax), a commission member. 'It was not as bad as I feared. I think the Department of Corrections would do itself a favor by opening up to the public more.'

Instead, Angelone has blocked tours by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the ACLU. His recent decision to bar a Connecticut state agency charged with monitoring the civil rights of the mentally ill led prison officials from that state to begin transferring their 133 inmates out of Wallens Ridge last week.

Documents won by Connecticut groups also raise questions about conditions for Virginia prisoners, who greatly outnumber those from any other state.

Fathi, the ACLU lawyer, said that according to the prison's own secret incident reports, guards shocked Connecticut prisoners with stun weapons 33 times and fastened them into five-point restraints 79 times over 19 months. The restraints, often kept on prisoners for 48 hours straight, were used for such violations as 'kicking the cell door,' throwing clothes and sticking paper out the cell door.

The use of the stun gun may have contributed to Lawrence Frazier's death. 'It seems most likely that severe physiologic stress, initiated by hypoglycemia and exacerbated by the decedent's prolonged agitation associated with stunning, was sufficient to induce a lethal cardiac arrhythmia,' the autopsy report said.

In May, Virginia prison officials put a moratorium on the stun gun used against Frazier. Guards still use other devices capable of delivering powerful electrical shocks.

Guards at Wallens Ridge also fired rubber rounds at Connecticut prisoners on 12 separate occasions during a one-year period; 37 inmates were hit, including one 14 times, according to Fathi's tabulation of incident reports.

Accusations of the beating of New Mexico prisoners at Wallens Ridge prompted that state's attorney general to request an FBI investigation. That continues in conjunction with the U.S. Justice Department, which reports three open criminal investigations into allegations of physical abuse by guards at Wallens Ridge.

Human rights groups and lawyers also charge that Virginia's supermax prisons contain many prisoners who don't qualify as 'the worst of the worst.'

Antonio Ponvert III, who represents the families of Frazier and David Tracy, said Tracy was just 19 when he entered Wallens Ridge with a 2-year sentence for dealing drugs. He hung himself in April last year, seven months before he was to be set free.

A roster of Connecticut inmates transferred to Wallens Ridge, provided to The Post by Ponvert, showed that 23 percent had sentences of five years or less; 41 percent had sentences of 10 years or less. The list included murderers, rapists and robbers but also numerous inmates charged with nonviolent offenses, such as burglary and drug crimes.

Ponvert is seeking up to $10 million from Connecticut officials for placing Tracy in Wallens Ridge.

'It's like something out of your worst nightmare about government control,' Ponvert said. 'In many parts of the world, conditions like this would be considered inhumane and outrageous.'

In his e-mail, Angelone referred questions about the out-of-state prisoners to officials from those states. But he defended the use of force denounced by Ponvert and other prison opponents.

'In all instances we will work to minimize the potential for injury to our correctional officers,' Angelone said. 'For this, we offer no apology.'"

(Craig Timberg, The Washington Post, July 31, 2001)