Glance at prison budget

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1997 | 4:23 a.m.

-TOTAL: The proposed budget is $273.2 million, or 13 percent less than what the agency requested. The prison spending is included in public safety spending, which makes up 11 percent of the governor's total budget.

-NEW PRISON: Miller wants a new $90.5 million men's correctional facility in Indian Springs that will hold 1,500 beds in the Phase I design and will ultimately hold 3,000 beds.

-WOMEN'S PRISON: The governor recommended spending $17 million to house women prisoners in Nevada's first privatized correctional facility. The money will help open the 500-bed Southern Nevada Women's Prison in Las Vegas.

-CONVERSION: Miller proposed a $8.2 million expansion and conversion of the existing women's prison to a male facility. The prison would expand to 510 beds.

-MEDICAL DIVISION: The division's budget was understated by $1.5 million in 1998 and $1.9 million in 1999 due to a miscalculation in contractor costs at Ely State Prison. The private contractor operated on seven months in 1996 and when the budget was made up, the governor's office failed to annualize the figures.

-PRISON INDUSTRIES: The program includes various in-house and joint venture programs. The largest program is a dairy farm. Prison industries also runs a graphic arts program which includes a bookbindery. One of the joint ventures produces high-performance sports cars.

-JUVENILES: A new 60-bed high security juvenile detention facility is included in the governor's proposal, to be located in Indian Springs at a cost of $6.4 million.

-JEAN EXPANSION: The governor recommends a $5.9 million expansion of the Jean Conservation camp from 112 beds to 240 beds with an anticipated completion date of March 1999.

-LOVELOCK EXPANSION: A $5 million expansion of the Lovelock Correctional Center in Miller's budget will pay for the completion of Phase II which will increase the prison's capacity from 650 beds to 1,498 beds.

-PAROLE BOARD - The five-member, governor-appointed board evaluates inmates to determine their suitability for parole. Chairman Donald Denison said the board needs a research analyst, but the governor's budget didn't include money for the position. The board heard 4,495 parole cases in 1996. Of those cases, 3,196 were denied.