Juvenile officials may ask for additional funds

Thursday, Nov. 6, 1997 | 10:46 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Despite an extra $15 million allocated by the 1997 Legislature to handle the rising number of juvenile delinquents statewide, Clark County has served notice it may be back in January asking the state for emergency financial help.

Juvenile officials from Clark and other counties told a legislative study committee Tuesday there aren't enough beds and programs to serve the growing number of kids who get in trouble.

Clark County Family Court Judge Terrance Marren praised the 1997 Legislature for its help but said Southern Nevada still faces a "chronic problem" of overcrowding in its juvenile detention hall.

A large part of the problem is children waiting to be transferred to the state youth training centers in Elko or Caliente. Marren said the facility in Clark County has a design capacity for 112 beds but there are as many as 300 youngsters in there. And the children committed to the state detention centers sometimes have to wait more than four weeks in Las Vegas before they are accepted.

Marren and District Judge Charles McGee of Reno issued an order last April directing the state to take all the children waiting for transfer to Elko or Caliente out of the overcrowded local juvenile facilities.

The Legislature decided to put $5.8 million to find programs in which to place the children because Elko and Caliente were both full at the time. And it allocated another $9.7 million to local governments to help build or expand juvenile facilities.

The court order was lifted as the problem eased. But it's escalated again. Marren said he and McGee are not ready to impose another court order, instead will wait to see if the programs funded "bear fruit."

"We have decided to wait until the end of the year," Marren told the committee studying the juvenile justice system. "My projection is we will need more beds on a temporary basis for two years," the judge said, adding it is a "good bet" Clark County will ask the Legislative Interim Finance Committee in January for more money.

Clark County officials have already contacted Rite of Passage, a privately run juvenile detention operation about starting a new program to handle the overflow of children. Rite of Passage, which operates camps and training programs in Northern Nevada, has inspected possible locations in Southern Nevada for a new project.

Marren said Rite of Passage is "looking intently" at the Henderson jail. "They have built a big jail and they don't use all of it. There's one wing segregated from the rest that would meet requirements," he said.

Rite of Passage, he said, would take the delinquents for $100 a day, compared to an $84 a day cost in the state facility in Elko. Part of the extra money approved by the Legislature is now going to Rite of Passage to handle the overflow that can't be accommodated in Elko or Caliente.

There are a number of projects on the drawing boards for construction but Marren said, "We're struggling with the short-term picture."

Assemblywoman Jan Evans, D-Sparks, who heads the study committee, said the statistics presented by local juvenile officers were "terrifying."

"The harsh reality is that we're never going to catch up. What's working against us is growth," Evans said.

With the overcrowding of the juvenile hall in Las Vegas, Marren said juvenile offenders are being released sooner and that poses an increased risk to the public.

"As a result (of the overcrowding), we have to take chances that we would not have taken years ago," the judge said. The point system for releasing inmates has been changed so only the higher risks are detained.

"The risk to the community is up by 25 percent," he said. "We had to make that choice. Sometimes I wonder if there is a car stereo left in Clark County because the kids we had to let out were typically our car burglars and not personal offenses against people."

Clark County voters approved bonds for expansion of the juvenile hall, Spring Mountain Youth Camp and Child Haven. But those projects won't be completed for another two years.