Wednesday, March 10, 1999 | 10:27 a.m.
Top Metro Police officers are looking beyond the $78 million jail that is set to open in early 2001. In fact, they're looking way out into the desert.
There, they envision a group of tent-like buildings that would house up to 400 minimum-security prisoners.
This minimum-security jail would complete an "ABC" approach to detention.
"We already have our "A" facility (the Clark County Detention Center), which can handle the most violent and dangerous criminals," Deputy Chief Bill Young, who is head jail administrator, said.
Young said the B facility, construction of which will start in June and be completed in 2001 with funding from a $78 million bond issue approved by voters in 1996, will handle medium-security criminals.
"The 'C' facility, which we are just talking about, would handle minimum-security prisoners, people who have committed crimes like prostitution or drunken driving," Young said.
The minimum-security facility, Young said, would not be nearly as costly as the medium-security building.
"We don't know for sure how much this third jail will cost, but we are guessing somewhere under $10 million. This isn't something we will go to the voters over and seek another tax levy. More than likely, it is something that we could ask the County Commission to pay for out of the general fund," Young said.
Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller estimated that the jail would initially cost between $2 million and $3 million.
Paul Martin, director of staffing for the jail, said Metro didn't include the cost of a third, minimum-security prison in the 1996 bond issue because at the time it was not considered necessary.
"We didn't think it would be needed," Martin said. "We didn't anticipate that the rate of growth would continue as it has."
Keller said there were pragmatic reasons for not including the minimum-security facility on the 1996 bond issue. He noted that in 1996 there were 500 beds in municipal jails not being used.
Metro has since begun a program under which it leases jail beds in Henderson, North Las Vegas and Las Vegas.
"I have roughly 80 empty beds now countywide," Keller said. "Back in '96, we talked about including this (minimum-security jail) in the ballot question. We just decided that we had these other options where there were already beds.
"Back then, I didn't want to build 500 low-level jail beds if we already had 500 low-level jail beds available.
"I didn't want to spend any more public money than I had to -- because that is precious. It is now time for more beds."
Keith Schwer, director of UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Development, said the national population growth rate is 1 percent but the Las Vegas metropolitan area is growing at 5 percent, fastest in the nation.
And Keller noted that the jail population is growing at a rate of 8 percent per year.
Martin said this facility will be different from the nationally publicized "tent city" Maricopa County Jail that serves the Phoenix area. The sheriff's department there uses surplus military tents.
"This won't be at all like that," he said. "We'll be able to heat and air-condition these buildings, and there will be restroom facilities in them."
Keller said prisoners in this facility will be expected to work on projects such as clearing trash from county parks and assembling desks for public schools.
"We visited Maricopa County years ago and went to their facility," he said. "That may fit the needs of that community, but this plan will fit our community. This facility will be safe so we don't have more crime inside than we do outside."
Clark County funds the jail portion of Metro's budget, and County Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury said he would need more information before deciding whether this style jail was a good idea.
"I'd like to think we would approach this concept with an open mind," he said. "We really haven't heard enough details on this plan to form an opinion."
But Keller said he is confident the commission will eventually support constructing the minimum-security jail.
"This is just one of those things that comes with growth. I don't think this going to be a political issue," he said. "This is just the next step that all of us who are elected as community leaders do to provide the resources necessary to keep our community safe."
There are clear advantages to this concept, Young said.
"They are relatively easy to put up. So there isn't a lot limiting us on how much we can expand," he said.
The structures would be a blend of tents and free-standing buildings. They would consist primarily of an insulated vinyl-type material wrapped around a steel frame. They could be air-conditioned and heated.
Young said this type of structure is routinely used by the U.S. military in a variety of climates.
Unlike the current jail and the medium-security jail, the minimum-security facility would not be in downtown Las Vegas.
"Our attitude on this is we want it as far away from neighborhoods as possible," Young said. "We will likely look for some Bureau of Land Management land that we may be able to use somewhere clear out in the desert where we can build this jail."
Young said in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Metro officers were forced to ignore certain low-end crimes because of jail overcrowding.
"We never want to get back to that situation ever again," he said. "We always need to be able to accommodate more prisoners."
The county already is feeling the pinch when it comes to jail space. While the overall rate of crime has gone down, sheer population growth has caused the jail population to continue to escalate. That is why it is about to begin construction of the medium-security facility.
"Our current jail facility was designed to hold 820 people. On some days, we now have as many as 1,800 people in the jail," Young said. "This crowding is causing a lot of problems."
About 320 correction officers work in the jail during different shifts, Martin said.
Martin said each correction officer can be left alone watching as many as 80 or 90 prisoners. "That is not a good situation," Young said. "This jail can be a very frightening place."
Young and Martin agreed that the medium-security jail will reach capacity soon after it opens.
"We are going to open our new jail with 1,349 beds, and we think they will be full the first day they open," Young said. "There are many categories of criminals that judges are choosing not to incarcerate now because we don't have the jail space."
Martin also pointed out that the new jail will take in prisoners who are now being farmed out to jails in Henderson, North Las Vegas and Las Vegas.
"About 700 to 800 people are being housed in that leased space," Martin said.
As more people are crowded into a jail, its population typically becomes more violent.
"What happens is we lose the stabilizing influence of misdemeanor offenders and have more and more pretrial felons, at least half of whom have violent histories. The more we crowd these people together, the more fights we have," Martin said.
To cope with the crowding, he said, Metro is often approaching sentencing judges to lighten sentences or alter punishments. For example, someone serving time for petty larceny might be released to finish his term with in-home detention, he said.
In fact, Martin said, the only misdemeanor offenders the main jail is routinely handling are habitual offenders and those who have refused to cooperate with the system either through the house-arrest program or by not appearing in court. The remainder of prisoners are people charged with felonies awaiting trail.
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