Senate committee wants to keep inmates off TV

Friday, Feb. 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

"Nobody wants to coddle these prisoners, but if you make the prison so restrictive and so prohibitive, you'll end up with a hostile environment that isn't even safe for guards," Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said during a hearing Thursday on a prison reform bill.

"I think we should get some of the prison security guards in here to testify about what these changes would do the prison environment," she added.

SB113 establishes a random drug testing program, and also prohibits offenders from watching television programs that are "sexually explicit, graphically violent or encourages or glamorizes crime, gang activities or violence against law enforcement, women, children or members of a particular religion, ethnic group or race."

"Does that include NYPD Blue?" Titus wanted to know.

Judiciary Chairman Mark James, R-Las Vegas, said violent programs have a negative impact on someone into a life of crime, and everyone else.

"A lot of the garbage on network TV should be prohibited and not be watched by anyone, but especially children," James said.

The bill also punishes offenders who refuse to work by making them ineligible for parole or probation, taking away good-time credits and confining them "to a cell or housing unit for 23 hours per day for a reasonable time, as determined by the director."

Forcing inmates to perform labor will keep them from dealing drugs or other illicit activities, James said.

SB113 is a second step in reforming the criminal justice system that follows a "truth in sentencing" bill passed last session, he said.

"This is about what the prisoners will do while there, it's about rehabilitation," James said. "This is not a medieval torture bill that says, 'Let's beat up on criminals."'

"We are trying to take prisons and make them a positive environment by getting the drugs out and getting the violence out."