Tammy Crime Bills, Overcrowding, Recidivism, West Virginia

Yanceyville, NC –NC has a new plan to help with overcrowded prisons and it may save taxpayers money.

The state is trying it out in the Piedmont, and Caswell County is one of the counties going through a pilot program, which starts next month. Report by digtriad.com.

It’s called the Statewide Misdemeanant Confinement Program. It involves where inmates serve their sentences.

Right now the law says for misdemeanors of 90 days or less, inmates generally serve the time in county jails. There are exceptions when the jail is overcrowded or the inmate presents security or medical risks.

In the new program under the Justice Reinvestment Act, those serving three to six month sentences will stay at county jails instead of going to Dept. of Correction.

The state reimburses the county for holding the extra inmates and providing care, supervision and transportation. The measure saves taxpayers about $40 per inmate per day.

That’s why Caswell County is building a bigger jail that can hold more inmates. Right now the jail holds 42 inmates. The new jail that will open in 2013 will hold 108 inmates.

Sheriff Michael Welch said the sheriff’s department jumped at the chance to take part in the pilot program.

“We actually have the ability to create some possibilities within our rural county and also alleviate some of the burdens on the taxpayers in the county,” said Sheriff Welch.

The sheriff told us the full program will take effect in January for all participating counties.

Tammy North Carolina, Overcrowding

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Two months into California’s most far-reaching public safety realignment in decades, some counties are seeing a higher-than-expected influx of inmates who could crowd jails to the breaking point much earlier than expected.State corrections officials say it is too soon to panic and expect the numbers to even out after an initial surge.

But reality is settling in as local law enforcement agencies struggle to contain criminals with a history of violence, substance abuse and mental illness who previously would have been tucked away in state prisons. Report by Mercury News.

Los Angeles County had said its more than 22,000 jail beds could be full by Christmas, although officials now have pushed the projection back by several months. Officials in the state’s most populous county are eying early release of less serious offenders and considering alternatives to jail, such as tracking criminals with GPS-linked ankle bracelets.

In Orange County, more than 60 detainees recently had to sleep on the jail floor until beds could be made available. That evokes recent images from state prisons, which were so overcrowded that inmates were housed in three-tier bunk beds in gymnasiums and day rooms.

Fresno County no longer will incarcerate parole violators to keep from crowding its 2,427-bed jail. Parolees could still go to jail if they commit new crimes, but not for violating parole conditions.

The changes are the result of a law that took effect Oct. 1 that shifts responsibility for thousands of lower-level criminals from the state to local jurisdictions. Only defendants convicted after that date are affected.Judges no longer can send offenders to state prison for crimes such as auto theft, burglary, grand theft and drug possession for sale. Conrad Murray, convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of singer Michael Jackson, will serve his four-year sentence in Los Angeles County jail, where his sentence will automatically be cut in half due to state law.

Inmates currently in state prison will complete their full sentences there, but parole violators who previously would have been returned to state prison now can only be incarcerated in county jails.

The law was driven by the state’s budget deficit and a federal court order, recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, requiring California to reduce its prison population by 33,000 inmates as a way to improve medical care.

“We anticipated some bumps in the road, and there have been,” said Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin, president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association.

He said the unexpected increase in the number of convicts coming to county jails has been the biggest problem to date.

The surge in some counties appears to be “a bubble” created because defense attorneys delayed sentencings until after the new law took effect so their clients would do their time in county jails instead of state prisons, said Dana Toyama, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The department projects the rate will level off in the coming months, she said.

If the trend continues, however, local law enforcement officials may have to lobby state legislators not only for more money but to shift some crimes back under state jurisdiction so offenders would again go to state prison, Fresno County Chief Probation Officer Linda Penner said.

“It was a massive overhaul of a very large system,” said Penner, who is president of the Chief Probation Officers Association of California. “I think we have to watch it for a while before we can go in and ask for legislative change.”

The early trends and responses are as varied as California’s 58 counties, each of which is taking a different approach under a law designed to give local jurisdictions more flexibility and responsibility for their own wrongdoers.

Counties have been given a total of $400 million to help pay their increased costs, and the state has set aside $603 million to help them build more jails. It also is giving cities and counties $490 million in other assorted law enforcement grants.

In Los Angeles County, Assistant Sheriff Cecil Rhambo Jr. said in late October that the county’s more than 22,000 jail beds might be full by Christmas. But department spokesman Steve Whitmore said the jails now are expected to reach capacity next spring or summer. The county is using some of the money it received from the state to hire more deputies, which will let the county accommodate more inmates, Whitmore said.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, a Republican, has been one of the most outspoken critics of the law, which was sought by Gov. Jerry Brown and approved by the Democrats who control the Legislature. He predicts an increase in crime as a result.

Cooley said his attorneys have been trained to comb offenders’ criminal histories, searching for factors that would enhance the charges against them and thus, if convicted, send them to state prison instead of county jail.

“We will look for every way around this that is ethical, honest, legitimate and lawful,” Cooley said. “We are going to give the courts the option to send them to ‘the joint’ if it’s appropriate.”

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon is taking a far different approach in a county that has seen no great influx of inmates. He has proposed that the county Board of Supervisors create a local sentencing commission that would help determine punishment based on criminals’ risk to public safety.

About 70 percent of the jail population in San Francisco and Los Angeles County is awaiting trial, and many of the detainees could be safety released using alternatives such as GPS tracking, he said. That would free jail space for those who have been convicted of more serious offenses.
“We are going to be doing business differently, but I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing,” Gascon said. “The reality is that if you look at the way we have incarcerated people and the recidivism rate, we haven’t been doing a very good job.”

Currently, about seven of every 10 inmates paroled statewide quickly commit a new crime, a recidivism rate far above the national average.

The shift is creating other challenges for local authorities.

“The common denominator to all these folks is an addiction to methamphetamine,” Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said of the inmates in his county who previously would have gone to state prisons. “That creates the challenges in getting them the services they need.”

Local officials also are dealing with dangerous criminals despite promises from state lawmakers that they would only face those convicted of non-serious, nonviolent and non-sex offenders.

“They are a large number, maybe even a majority, that have serious and violent offenses in their rap sheets,” even if their current offense is relatively minor, said Sacramento County Chief Probation Officer Don Meyer.

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims announced last week that her jail will no longer accept parole violators because of the surge in inmates there, forcing state parole agents to find other punishments for those who don’t follow the rules.

So far, her jail is less crowded than it was before the state’s realignment because Mims used state funding to open 432 minimum security jail beds. Her office also is working with county probation officers and local police departments to create teams that will do frequent checks on criminals placed on community supervision.

Orange County Assistant Sheriff Mike James said the jail still has 900 empty beds but doesn’t have the staff to manage the unexpected influx. Nearly 70 detainees were forced to sleep on the floor until beds could be made available.

“Long-term, if the numbers hold out to be true, you’ll be full and then difficult decisions will have to be made about who stays in and who gets released,” James said.

Tammy California, Overcrowding, Uncategorized

OTTAWA — Complaints of double-bunking in Canadian prisons nearly tripled from 2009 to 2010, according to the departmental performance report released by the Office of the Correctional Investigator.

Double-bunking is against government policy and is supposed to be used only in emergency situations because it places two inmates in a cell designed for one. In 2010-11, complaints rose to 44 from 15 complaints the previous year. Report by The Vancouver Sun.

In the OCI’s annual report, released in June, double-bunking was described as “particularly unsafe, contrary to human dignity, inconsistent with (Correctional Services Canada’s) accommodation policy and, quite likely, a violation of international human rights detention standards.”

The report goes on to say double-bunking is not appropriate — especially at a time when the population of federal prisons is on the rise. The situation is made worse, the report said, due to the high rates of mental illness, drug addiction, violence and gang membership among prison populations.

Lead investigator at the OCI, Howard Sapers, told CBC News the cells are for housing an inmate 23, and in some cases 24, hours a day in a confined space. He said double-bunking borders on inhumane custody.

The annual report recommends the federal prison system explicitly outlaw double-bunking in all segregation and segregation-like cells. The report says that now is the perfect time to make this policy change because the rules are in the process of being reviewed and updated.

The OCI acts as an ombudsman between inmates and the corrections service. The office takes complaints and, when necessary, performs investigations and makes recommendations to the prison service.

Overall, complaints to the office have increased by four per cent. Last year, there were 5,748 complaints, up slightly from the previous year.

Complaints about dental care, legal counsel, discipline and decisions issued by the OCI all saw an increase. While complaints about inmate diet, transfers and security all declined. Inmates’ complaints about family visits stopped altogether — there were 63 in 2009-10 but none last year.

The performance report released last week says the department is performing well, especially considering its limited staff of 30. The report also says the office budget will be increased by nearly $1 million from its current $3 million budget.

The OCI report comes at a time where the government is increasing the number of prisons as legislation is debated to introduce mandatory minimums and other changes to the Criminal Code. Critics have said the legislation will unnecessarily put Canadians behind bars, leading to problems seen in the United States.

Tammy Canada, Inmate Rights, Prison Population

OTTAWA—The head of federal penitentiaries says there is no “crisis” of overcrowding in Canada’s prison system, and Conservatives’ proposed massive anti-crime bill won’t dramatically increase costs.

But the estimates and optimistic view presented by Correctional Service of Canada commissioner Don Head appeared at odds with ministerial estimates of the costs already presented to the Commons justice committee and at odds with many other witnesses’ warnings. Report by The Star.

Head was among nine supporters and critics invited to a two-hour hearing during which the Conservative chair gave witnesses just five minutes to race through their presentations, few of which were completed.

Several warned Canada is headed down the wrong path with longer jail sentences for drug users, sexual offenders, and young offenders, citing the U.S. experience with overcrowded prisons.

Victims’ advocates supported measures to jail offenders longer, and to increase the role of victims in the parole system.

Head suggested the federal penitentiary system would be able to handle well the influx of prisoners, and said the omnibus bill will add an extra $34 million in costs to the federal prison system spread over five years.

Tougher sentencing provisions for sexual crimes against children will add only an extra 164 inmates a year, he said. He did not offer an estimate of how many drug offenders could end up in jail.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has already said the omnibus package — which rolls together nine separate tough-on-crime bills — would cost $78.6 million over five years.

That figure was tied to tougher penalties for drug crimes estimated to cost $67.7 million over five years because of higher prison populations. Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews had also estimated new measures related to sexual offences were expected to cost $10.9 million over two years with additional funding to be approved after that.

Head said his estimates, related to post-custody monitoring of sex offenders in provinces which don’t have parole board resources and mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences, were included in Nicholson’s $78.6-million pricetag.

Those two proposals are expected to cost about $34 million over five years, including $25 million in capital costs to build more prison space, and annual operating costs of about $6.4 million for each measure, he said. Some costs will be absorbed by CSC’s current budget, he added.

Head could not explain what Nicholson’s larger estimate referred to and said he’d “defer” to the minister’s office for an explanation.

Lawyer Eric Gottardi, of the Canadian Bar Association’s national criminal justice section that represents Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers, objected that “a mere five minutes” was “entirely insufficient” to address the profound shifts proposed.

“It is in, our respectful view, undemocratic.”

The tougher sentencing proposals are “self-defeating and counterproductive if the goal is to enhance public safety,” said the national lawyers’ organization.

Gottardi said the changes proposed will shift Canada’s criminal justice and penal policy from individualized sentencing, rehabilitation and reintegration to one that “puts punishment and vengeance first.”

Gottardi and UBC professor Michael Jackson criticized measures, such as a new bail regime for young offenders that will mean more “at risk” youth will be detained before the trials, and changes that make it more difficult to obtain pardons, which they said removes an incentive for ex-offenders to rehabilitate.

University of Toronto criminologist Anthony Doob, a fierce critic of the Conservatives’ tough-on-crime agenda, , denounced the push to rush the omnibus bill through parliament without the scrutiny it needs.

Doob condemned changes to allow publication of names of youths convicted and given an adult sentence before any appeal can be filed.

“This is a cruel and dishonest joke,” said Doob. “The safeguard to a youth of an appeal is already eliminated.”

Doob was challenged by Conservatives who called him Dobbs and demanded to know whether, despite degrees from Harvard and Stanford universities, he’d ever practiced law, worked in a youth justice clinic or been a victim of crime.

Catherine Latimer of the John Howard Society of Canada warned that provincial jails will bear the brunt of the changes. Provinces like Saskatchewan, B.C. and Ontario are already well over their capacity, she said, citing Saskatchewan at nearly 200 per cent of capacity.

In the United States, courts have declared jails that hit 137 per cent overcapacity are breaching guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment.

But prompted by Conservative questioners, the corrections boss, Head, said he’s seen prison conditions around the world. Canada’s penitentiary system has “issues related to double-bunking” and “some challenges in terms of growth,” but he said “I wouldn’t buy into” statements describing crowded prison conditions as “cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Canada is still a leader in terms of how we treat offenders. I wouldn’t be declaring a crisis.”

Sue O’Sullivan, federal ombudsman for victims of crime, praised changes to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, such as the right to provide victims statement at parole hearings, but called for the right to attend a parole hearing to be enshrined in law, not just policy. She hailed changes that forbid offenders from cancelling parole hearings on short notice.

Sharon Rosenfeldt, of Victims of Violence, cited the same report the Conservatives repeatedly refer to about the “intangible” costs of crime and said when she hears Opposition to crime measures based on costs, “it upsets me greatly.”

“How do you put a price tag on our pain as victims or on our children’s lives?”

Liberal justice critic Irwin Cotler scolded the Conservatives, raising a point of order after the meeting, saying all MPs had “an obligation to treat witnesses with respect” and shouldn’t treat anybody “as an advocate for crime or criminals.”

In a separate parliamentary committee examining drug and alcohol abuse in prisons, Sandy Simpson and Wayne Skinner of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health urged the Conservative government to invest more money in prison treatment programs and more health services outside prison to help offenders and their families deal with the root causes of addictions.

Candice Hoeppner, parliamentary secretary for public safety, asked what legislators should do to stop family members whom she described as “enablers” for addicted inmates from smuggling drugs into prison.

Simpson and Skinner urged the Conservatives not to pursue policies that would further isolate inmates from family members who are key to helping an offender reintegrate into society.

Tammy Canada, Prison Population

San Diego County has a plan to absorb 4,000 offenders who will shift from state to county oversight in the next few months. The county’s probation department is expanding to work on new policies designed to shorten jail stays and increase community supervision.

County Supervisor Ron Roberts said a good working relationship among law enforcement agencies in San Diego should make the transition easier. But he said many other counties are not handling the challenge well. Report by KPBS.

“San Diego is not an island,” he said, “We’re part of a state where many of the counties, they’re not going to be able to deal with this. There are not going to be hundreds of people that don’t belong there, there are going to be thousands of people on the streets of California that rightfully should be in jail.”

Thirty-seven of California’s 58 counties have jails that are already overcrowded.

In Los Angeles, Chief Probation Officer Donald Blevins is under pressure to leave because of a failure to reform the badly broken probation system. Employees have given him a vote of no confidence.

Meanwhile, community leaders are calling on Los Angeles’ sheriff to step down after the ACLU released a damning report.

Peter Eliasberg of ACLU said Sheriff Lee Baca has failed to address systemic violence and prisoner abuse in L.A.’s County overcrowded jails.

“For decades the LA county jail has had enormous problems, “Eliasberg said, “and for decades the sheriff’s department has failed to confront those. Either he or his spokesperson literally engages in a blanket policy of denial. “

Because of its size, LA will receive about a third of the offenders being passed down to county jurisdiction by the state.

Observers are concerned that the leaders of the criminal justice system in LA are under fire, on the brink of an historic change that could threaten public safety state wide.

Tammy CA San Diego County, Overcrowding, Prison Realignment, Probation and Parole, Recidivism

LAKE COUNTY — Steve Buchholz returned to a familiar position. He came out of retirement to serve as Interim Chief Probation Officer for Lake County.

He worked for the Lake County Probation Department for more than 30 years and served as Chief Probation Officer for nearly 16 years. Report by Lake County Record-Bee.

Buchholz will assist in the management of the transition that Lake County will make as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in May to fix California’s overcrowded prison problem.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation began efforts to cut the inmate population in its 33 prisons by May 2013. State legislators then passed, and the governor signed into law, Assembly Bill 109 to help meet the court order. Lawmakers allocated $5 billion for counties to implement local solutions.

“AB 109 shifts the responsibility for incarcerating many low-risk inmates’ from the state to counties like ours,” Buchholz said.

On Sept. 20, the Lake County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to help the county manage a change in the Lake County corrections system.

“This plan is the result of many hardworking professionals in the corrections system, and is a solid first step toward helping the county manage additional offenders,” Buchholz said.

The state will continue to incarcerate offenders who commit serious, violent or sexual crimes, but the counties will supervise, rehabilitate and manage “low-level offenders.”

Some of the offenders who are not designated as “violent, serious or sexual” by legal definition, do pose a risk to the community, according to Buchholz.”It is our goal to closely monitor all offenders being returned to Lake County, as well as those who can no longer be sentenced to state prison, until we determine they do not present a risk to our community.”

Buchholz said it is unfortunate that the funding provided by the state will probably fall far short of the financial responsibilities imposed on local jurisdictions with realignment legislation.

The Lake County Community Corrections Partnership (CCP), including the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Lake County District Attorney’s office and Probation Department among other agencies, worked to research options.

“It is not a matter of whether we want to deal with this; it is a matter of how we will deal with this big change,” Buchholz said.

“I am disappointed that former Lake County Chief Probation Officer Meredith Helton (now Marino) of Texas wrote a letter to the editor on this subject without first obtaining all the facts. That letter printed in the Sept. 22, Record-Bee edition suggests that no one in Lake County had been working on contrary to the former chief’s opinion,” Buchholz said.

In fact, he said that Lake County is one of a handful of counties to adopt and approve a realignment plan and submit it to the state prior to Oct. 1, 2012. All of the plan expenditures are for evidence-based programs.

In addition to changes at the Hill Road Correctional Facility to hold more inmates, community corrections programs will be expanded. Lake County will open a day-reporting center where offenders will go through a multi-phase program that includes ongoing reporting to the center, intensive treatment and training, and testing for drug and alcohol use.

Offenders will also participate in classes proven to change criminal thinking, Buchholz said.

“This program is not soft on participants; they will be held accountable for their actions. Failure to comply with day reporting center rules and guidelines will result in tighter curfews, more frequent visits to the center, additional classes, electronic monitoring, or incarceration. Additionally, we will open a program in the jail that will prepare inmates for employment and anti-criminal behavior.”

Buchholz said he is pleased that the Board of Supervisors approved the plan to help manage the additional offenders that Lake County will now have to manage as a result of AB 109. He thinks Lake County is taking a balanced and financially sound approach.

“If we change criminal behavior, we all benefit as these offenders become contributors to our community. Yes, there will be offenders who fail, but that is why we have the jail,” Buchholz said.

The CCP recommended BI Incorporated to assist Lake County in managing AB 109. BI works with almost a dozen California counties, such as Napa, Merced and Madera, where positive results are reported. BI Incorporated supports approximately 900 correctional agencies in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and Australia. The company provides agencies with compliance technologies, monitoring services, evidence-based supervision, treatment programs for community-based parolees, probationers and pre-trial defendants.

BI’s solutions assist federal, state and local agencies to supervise a range of people from low- to high-risk offenders by combining new technology and expert technical services.

“By bringing in an experienced company, we can adapt quickly. In Merced County, for example, the county and BI set up a day-reporting center where community-based offenders go for supervision, treatment and training, rather than incarceration. In a county where the unemployment rate nears 20 percent, almost nine of 10 offenders who go to the Merced day-reporting center exit the program with a job or are in school. When people are working or see a positive future, they are more likely to stay out of trouble. And, importantly, the cost of these programs is much lower than incarceration,” Buchholz said.

The strategies were designed for the county to best manage the changes that AB 109 requires. The Board of Supervisors will receive regular updates regarding the progress of the plan.

“As a person involved with criminal justice for many years, I believe when we offer rehabilitation services, establish positive community links, and teach basic employment and decision-making skills, recidivism rates will be reduced, more victims avoided and taxpayers will pay less for incarcerating habitual re-offenders. Lake County is taking that approach. Modifications to our plan will be made as the needs of our community and offenders become more clearly defined,” Buchholz said.

Tammy California, Early Release, Overcrowding, Prison Realignment

Diverting mentally ill inmates out of the Johnson County Jail is saving the county almost half a million dollars a year and helping with overcrowding.

The jail-alternative program, established under the Mental Health Department in 2005, helps inmates who are mentally disabled by making sure they get the treatment they need and help to get them out of incarceration, because their mental-health symptoms could worsen the longer they’re locked up, said Pat Harney, the chairman of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. Report by The Daily Iowan.

Jessica Peckover, team leader of the jail-alternative program, told the supervisors Thursday the most recent cost of a jail-bed day — when an inmate occupies a holding space — for the jail is reported as being $64.60 per day. The number of jail-bed days used by the 660 inmates prior to the jail-alternative program was 30,308 beds used in a year. After one year of the jail-alternative program, only 10,296 jail-bed days were used. The difference saved roughly $1.3 million in additional costs, Peckover said.

“Even taking into account the cost of the program since inception, there is still about $450,000 of cost savings,” she said.

Peckover said there are a number of unquantifiable cost-savings that include preventing repeat offenses, lawsuits, psychiatric hospitalizations, and committals of the mentally disabled inmates. Other savings include promoting community wellness, public safety, and the enhancement of inmates’ quality of life.

Supervisor Sally Stutsman, a strong supporter of the program, said it focuses most of its time helping these individuals at the Health and Human Services Building, but they also spend time at the jail or other communities.

“Not only does this help alleviate the crowding, but it’s also diverting people who shouldn’t be in jails,” she said. “It’s better for the individual because there’s a number of people related to criminal activity that have mental issues, and this really becomes a preventative program for those in need.”

Stutsman said that, without a doubt, the jail would be more overcrowded without this program.

“The community wanted us to create some alternative to putting people out of jail, and this is the best alternative that we came up with,” she said.

Harney also supports the program and said it’s helpful for Johnson County.

“The idea is to keep them out of jails and institutions, and I’m really glad we have this jail-alternative program in place,” he said.

admin IA Johnson County, Iowa, Mental Health Issues, Overcrowding

Johnson County IA costs to house inmates outside its overcrowded jail doubled from 2006 to 2008, according to a report released Monday by the Sheriff’s Office.  Report from The Gazette.

That was not much of a surprise — the county has known those expenses are rising — but Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said it’s another reminder that the current jail is too small.    “The jail is still a huge issue out there that hasn’t been resolved,” he said.

The county spent $900,595 to house inmates elsewhere last year, up from $447,915 in 2006. It spent another $73,813 last year on transportation costs, compared with $48,109 two years before.  The county averaged 135 inmates a day last year, up from 115 in 2006; the Johnson County Jail has 92 beds …

Tax increases, the recent $20 million conservation bond and the recession mean that a new jail is probably a few years from becoming a reality, supervisors Chairman Terrence Neuzil said.  “I think it’s pretty difficult to think that we’re going to be able to solve this issue in the short term,” he said.

In the meantime, the county has implemented jail alternative programs to lessen the stress on the jail and recently began sending all overflow inmates to Marshall County, with Johnson County paying a lower rate than it had been to other counties.

vericatrajkova California, Economic Issues, IA Johnson County, INTERNATIONAL, Iowa, Overcrowding

Nevada lawmakers reviewed a new version of a prison construction plan Thursday, one without the massive $221 million in bonds for Prison 8 in southern Nevada.  Report from the Lahonton Valley News.

Director Howard Skolnik said the governor’s proposal still includes closing down Nevada State Prison, which legislators have said they oppose. They haven’t, however, made a decision on that plan, which Skolnik said saves his operating budget $18 million a year.   “That’s a decision that needs to be made,” he said following the hearing before a joint subcommittee of Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means.    If lawmakers decide to keep NSP open, he said cuts will have to be made somewhere else or more money put into his budgets to balance them.

The plan does, however, include $9.6 million in money to plan and design a major expansion of Warm Springs prison, located next door to the old Nevada State Prison. And Skolnik has said in the past that expansion would restore most of the jobs lost by closing NSP.  The plan includes adding three modern housing units at Warm Springs and core facilities to house up to 1,500 inmates there. It would be built by 2013, in the meantime providing numerous construction jobs.

While the huge new prison in southern Nevada was taken off the Capital Improvement Projects list, the proposed budget does provide for construction of a badly needed southern Regional Medical Facility.  At present, the prison has its only medical center in Carson City even though most of the inmates are in the south.    Added to that project is a new execution chamber, which Skolnik said is needed because it’s unlikely the historic gas chamber in Carson City now used would meet the latest court requirements.   Together, those two projects would cost $62.2 million.

Skolnik said the plan laid out for the committee Thursday “will meet almost any scenario we’ve been asked to prepare.”

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Nevada, Overcrowding, Prison and Jail Construction