The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Nevada spent $328 million in justice expenditures in 2003, according to the report.

But the Nevada Department of Corrections could increase the amount spent on such programs in the 2007 session of the Legislature.

The agency, which has not added many prison beds over the past few years, is expected to ask the Legislature for a huge increase in capital construction dollars to deal with overcrowding and projected inmate growth.

The agency is seeking $268 million for five construction projects in the upcoming session, including a 300-bed expansion of the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Center at a cost of $61 million and the addition of two housing units at the High Desert State Prison at a cost of $51.7 million.

The agency has been recommended for 45 percent of the $708 million two-year construction budget for the next two years by the state Public Works Board.

By comparison, $59 million, 14 percent of the total, was allocated to corrections for construction in the current two-year budget.

Outgoing Gov. Kenny Guinn, in his most recent budget calculations, said the growth in the inmate population for the coming two years will require an additional $29 million in funding for new correctional officers and other expenses.

Guinn has also recommended $10 million more in one-time funding for modular housing units for up to 380 inmates to deal with short-term overcrowding problems at various correctional facilities.

Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons, who takes office in January, is evaluating and developing his own budget.

Incoming Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said the alarming numbers were the driving force to create the Select Committee on Corrections, Parole and Probation for the upcoming session, to be led by Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas.

The new committee will examine the state's corrections system from both a policy and funding perspective.

"The estimate of our needs for prison beds over the next 20 years is absolutely staggering," Buckley said.

Those who violate the law must be punished, but the state might use cheaper alternatives to prison beds, such as restitution, house arrest and community service for nonviolent offenders, Buckley said.

"We need to find less costly ways to address inmate growth than by committing so many of our general fund dollars to new prisons," she said.

State Budget Director Andrew Clinger said the average inmate population in fiscal year 2005-06 was 11,700. Projections estimate the population to grow to 13,337 and 13,900 in each of the next two years of the upcoming budget cycle.

"I get the sense that based on the projections, unless they do something on the front end to change the numbers, I don't know what else you can do," Clinger said. "We're already doing as much as we can on the back end, with parole," he said.

Corrections Director Glen Whorton in September told lawmakers that methamphetamine use, and crimes committed by those addicted to the drug, is a big factor in the increasing inmate population.

The department has no data specifically for methamphetamine, but it has 1,884 drug offenders in its inmate population of about 11,700. Of that, 1,884, or 38 percent, had one or more prior felony convictions in Nevada.

Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and vice chairman of the Select Committee, said controlling inmate growth is critical.

Without a commitment to treatment programs to deal with methamphetamine addiction and to help reduce recidivism among inmates, Nevada's prison population could grow by 50 percent in the next 15 to 20 years, he said.

"If we don't take care of this in the next couple of sessions, prisons will be the No. 1 cost to the state," Anderson said.

"We have other issues, including transportation needs and other infrastructure issues including water, to deal with. But if we're building the 'Big House,' we're not building roads."

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/nov/24/112410382.html
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com