Committee: Prison sites to be secret

Thursday, March 21, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Despite efforts by a North Las Vegas assemblyman, it looks like the potential sites for a 400-inmate women's prison in Southern Nevada are going to remain secret for the time being.

Democrat Bob Price told a meeting of the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee on Wednesday that the public has a right to know the locations being considered. He asked the committee to write to prison Director Bob Bayer asking for the information.

But the committee never took a vote. Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, said after the meeting, "There won't be any letter. I respect the decision of Bob Bayer. We need to ride this to the end."

The prison system has received bids from four companies to build and operate a women's prison in Clark County. But the bids, according to the specifications, must remain confidential until Bayer selects one and presents it to the state Board of Examiners for approval.

Bayer said he was advised by the attorney general's office that he would turn over the information if requested by the legislative committee but warned that members could be open to prosecution and liable for suit if the information were disclosed publicly.

Price said after the meeting he would ask Bayer for the information. He said he was "inclined" to make the potential sites public if he gets the information.

He suggested the public's right to know is greater than the fear of any suit or time he might spend in jail.

Bayer told the committee that once the contractor is selected, the company must go through local planning boards to get permission for the location.

Asked what he would do if Price asked for the information, Bayer said, "I don't know. What a mess."

Other members of the committee disagreed with Price.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said Bayer did not "circumvent" any law in deciding that the bids should be confidential initially. She said the public will have an opportunity to comment on the potential site when it comes before the local government.

Assembly Co-Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, defended Bayer's decision. If one of the bidders had tied up a site, Dini said it wouldn't be right to allow a rival company to move into negotiations.

Bayer said he hoped to have the final evaluations of the bids completed by the end of the month. He could then present his decision to the Board of Examiners, headed by Gov. Bob Miller.

During the long discussion, Price, a Democrat, said, "A citizen should be able to call a bureaucratic agency and get public information," especially if it involved such things as location of a hazardous waste site or a prison.

Bayer said he was "caught by surprise" when the location secrecy issue arose. He said every other state had done it the same way in soliciting bids from private companies.

He said he had the authority to bypass the bidding process and select one contractor. But he said he put the contract out to bid, hoping to get lower prices.

"I was trying to get the lowest dollar price," Bayer said. "I was never thinking it was a matter of secrecy. When this all broke, I was embarrassed."

One bidder withdrew a proposal to build the prison near a residential area in North Las Vegas after homeowners complained. That sparked concerns about where the other bidders propose to put the prison.

On another prison matter, the Interim Finance Committee agreed to dip into its emergency fund for $429,760 for the prison to hire 26 extra people for the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City.

The prison system is overcrowded and needs to make space available for another 144 inmates at this facility. And the problem is going to get worse.

John Neill, chief of finances for the prison system, said it will face a "severe shortage of 362 beds by June 1997" because the population is increasing faster than expected.

Arberry said that could mean the state might have to build another prison, in addition to the ones on the drawing boards.

Bayer said the prison would have firmer estimates in the next few weeks from its consultant on future prison population.

The prison budget was built on the state Parole Board releasing 35 percent of the inmates who apply for parole. Instead, the number is about 30 percent. In addition, the prison had counted on 140 inmates being placed on house arrest, but so far there are about 40.

The Legislature, aware of the uncertainties, placed $8 million in a special fund in 1995 to take care of any emergencies that might arise.