Video technology will help INS to interview local jail inmates

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999 | 10:33 a.m.

The days of illegal aliens being released from jail before their immigration status is discovered are coming to a close.

The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded Clark County and the cities of North Las Vegas and Las Vegas grant money for the purchasing of jailhouse video conferencing equipment.

The equipment will allow immigration officers to conduct interviews with Immigration and Naturalization Service prisoners without having to leave their office, said Steve Usiak, assistant officer in charge of the Las Vegas Immigration and Naturalization Office.

Not only will the systems save immigration officers time, but it will also cut down on the possibility of escapes, Usiak said.

The time factor is especially crucial because up until now, immigration officers have not been able to check every jails' daily booking records for possible illegal aliens, Usiak said.

The officers have had to limit their reviews to the Clark County Detention Center, where most of the county's more serious offenders are detained, Usiak said.

The immigration status of defendants jailed in North Las Vegas or in the Las Vegas city jail is rarely checked unless officers receive a tip that the person might be in the country illegally, Usiak said.

"Unfortunately, we don't have the personal, so if an illegal gets booked into those jails, chances are they are going to be released before we know about it," Usiak said.

Usiak said it is difficult to guess how many illegal aliens are released every year.

The Department of Justice awarded the grants under its Community Oriented Policing Services, VTC Technology Initiative.

North Las Vegas City Council members voted to accept a $75,000 grant at an October meeting, and Las Vegas City Council members are expected to vote on the acceptance of a $63,000 grant at their meeting Wednesday night.

Joe Gumiensky, financial officer for the Clark County Detention Center, said the grant issue has not yet been before the county commissioners because county officials are negotiating the size of the grant.

Because the Clark County Detention Center is larger than the other two facilities and therefore needs a video conferencing room on each floor, Gumiensky said he believes the county's grant will be larger than the other two.

Mike Sheldon, chief of detention and enforcement at the Las Vegas Detention Center, said the "really neat technology" would probably be in place by spring if the City Council accepts the grant Wednesday night.

"It's going to open up a lot of horizons," Sheldon said.

The equipment might one day allow INS prisoners to have video conferences with family members in other states, and it also could allow for video conferencing educational classes, Sheldon said.

Inmates too could end up appearing before immigration judges from whichever facility they are being housed in, Usiak said.

Ken Ellingson, chief of detention for the city of North Las Vegas, said he would like his inmates to be able to make their initial appearances in Justice Court via the new video equipment.

Currently, North Las Vegas detention officers are having to drive more than 20 prisoners to Justice Court five days a week, Ellingson said. Those officers are then tied up for two or three hours at a time.

"Anytime we can cut transportation down, it saves time and money, and it's better security," Ellingson said. "We're at our most vulnerable for escape when we're moving people outside the facility."

Usiak agreed, noting that an INS prisoner escaped last summer while being transported from a local facility to the Las Vegas INS office. He has not yet been caught.