Legislators wary of governor’s prison plan

Kiley Russell

Monday, Feb. 8, 1999 | 3:58 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Legislators grilled top administration officials Monday about cost-cutting plans to close a state prison in Jean and to privatize the entire prison system's medical services.

Several Assembly Judiciary members seemed unconvinced that Gov. Kenny Guinn's plans will work, especially given Nevada's rapidly growing inmate population.

"How long will Jean be closed? How much money will it save? What is the reason for closing it when we just did a truth-in-sentencing law to put more people in prison?" asked Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas.

Prison officials conceded the system is feeling the impact of a law passed in 1995 that requires offenders to serve at least their minimum sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

"The population is larger than some of our smaller counties," Prison Director Bob Bayer said, adding that the male inmate population grew by 7.4 percent and the female population grew 19 percent last year.

There are now 8,500 male prisoners and 678 women inmates locked up in Nevada prisons.

Pete Ernaut, Guinn's chief of staff, said the governor plans to only temporarily close the Southern Nevada Correctional Center in Jean. He also said the state would save $10 million by laying off some employees there and moving the rest, along with all the inmates, to a new prison at Cold Springs.

But he said construction at Cold Springs, north of Las Vegas, would have to be sped up to accommodate the governor's plan.

"This would allow us to do a couple of things: to lease the facility (in Jean) to states like Arizona and California, who are knocking down everybody's doors for beds, or to rehabilitate the facility or do both," Ernaut said.

The governor would like the state that leases Jean to pay for the much-needed improvements to the facility - and Judiciary members said that might not work.

"We probably need an in-depth hearing on this," said Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, adding that other states might not be interested in Jean unless Nevada pays for the improvements.

"Why not just fix Jean and not build Cold Springs," asked Assemblyman Tom Collins, D-North Las Vegas.

Judiciary members were just as skeptical of the governor's plan to privatize the prison medical system.

"I'd like to say as a private employee I often deal with my employer's (proposals) to bid out work. I point out that they can do the work with better cost and higher quality in-house. I think that's the case with privatization," Collins said.

But Ernaut said the governor's privatization plan would give the state the flexibility it needs to deal with the high cost of inmates' medical care.

"You've heard a lot of horror stories (about privatization). Once you get into this, you'll find that a lot of those horror stories are just that - horror stories and not steeped in fact," Ernaut said.

Guinn figures systemwide privatization would cut 321 state jobs and save about $4.4 million during two years.

But the value of a privatized medical system was questioned by Bob Gagnier of the State of Nevada Employees Association.

"Ely sends their sickest inmates to the state (medical facility in Carson City)," Gagnier told the committee, adding that the state then has to pick up the cost that Correctional Medical Services, the private company at Ely, doesn't want to pay.