Delay Prison Closure: Nevada Panel
Since there are fewer inmates in the Nevada’s prison population than expected, a Senate-Assembly budget panel wants to keep an old prison open while delaying the construction of a new facility.
Under the two-year prison system budget plan outlined to Gov. Jim Gibbons in mid-January, Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said his department would have 12,689 inmates in his system.A recent survey said there are 725 prisoners less than Skolnik estimated, leading legislators to call for the adjustment to the closure and construction schedule. The subcommittee’s chairwoman state Rep. Kathy McClain said she would like to see “a little more thought” put into initial administration plans to shut down the old Nevada State Prison in Carson City near Tonopah and to build a new prison at Indian Springs, in southern Nevada.