Bids being sought for new, privately run juvenile prison

Brendan Riley

Wednesday, April 29, 1998 | 9:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY - After months of delays, the state is finally moving ahead with plans to have private industry build and run a new prison for "serious and chronic" delinquent boys in southern Nevada.

A May 8 deadline was given for companies that hope to qualify as bidders on the project.

If given the go-ahead to bid, companies will then produce specific proposals for the prison by June 12. A contract could be signed by early August and construction could start by November. The prison should be ready by August 1999.

That puts the project, approved by the 1997 Legislature, well behind an initial schedule that had bid openings by early February and construction starting by next month.

But delays were inevitable. State Budget Director Perry Comeaux has noted the 1997 Legislature gave virtually no direction on size, operation or potential ownership of the facility.

Gov. Bob Miller originally budgeted $6.4 million to build a 60-bed juvenile prison for Nevada's most serious underage offenders.

But in the final days of the 1997 session, lawmakers pulled the money out of that plan and ordered facility construction to be privatized so saved money could be used elsewhere.

The plan now is for a 100-bed facility, located within 20 miles of Las Vegas, that could be expanded later on to 200 beds. There is no specific site yet and no state property allocated for the prison.

Most boys would be 14 to 18 years old, but the facility would have to be able to handle anyone from 9 to 21 - and ensure younger inmates can be protected from older "predatory" types.

Programs would include a minimum of 25 hours a week in academic or vocational education plus several hours of physical education each week.

The state can pick one company to design and build the prison and another company to run it, or can pick one firm to design, build and operate it.

The privatized juvenile prison plan follows last year's opening of Nevada's first privately operated prison, a 500-bed women's facility in North Las Vegas.

That prison was built and is being operated for the state by Corrections Corporation of America.