Census cites high rates of blacks in state prisons

Wednesday, June 20, 2001 | 9:50 a.m.

Census figures show Nevada has a disproportionate percentage of blacks in prison and juvenile detention facilities.

Blacks represented only 6.8 percent of Nevada's population last year but constituted 27.2 percent of the imprisoned Nevada males aged 18 to 65 and 29.8 percent of the female inmates in the same age group.

Figures from the 2000 Census released today also revealed that blacks younger than 18 composed 22.2 percent of the male population and 23.7 percent of the female population in the state's juvenile institutions.

"Horrible" was the first word that came to mind when those statistics were read to Elgin Simpson, executive director of the Nevada State Task Force for the Study of Racial, Economic and Gender Bias in the Justice System.

"These numbers are horrible when you think about it," Simpson said. "We have a whole generation of black men who will spend their whole life in prison."

Simpson said much of the blame rests on a criminal justice system that he said is far more lenient toward whites. Non-Hispanic whites represented 65.2 percent of the state's population in 2000 but only 50.8 percent of incarcerated males 18 to 65. Non-Hispanic white females of the same age group represented 58.2 percent of the women incarcerated in state prisons.

In a 1994 series on local race and justice the Las Vegas Sun reported that high incarceration rates among blacks in Southern Nevada could be attributed to numerous factors. Among them were the lack of blacks among the top ranking officers on the Metro Police force, as well as the scarcity of black attorneys, judges and jurors.

It was also reported that local authorities use a pre-sentence investigation score sheet to determine who goes to prison and who gets probation. Critics said that about half of the score sheet is based on economic factors such as possession of a job or college education, factors that weigh heavily against blacks. Simpson said the score sheet and the other conditions mentioned in the series continue to exist.

"If they took three kids downtown, a white kid, a Hispanic kid and a black kid, the white kid would be released to his parents 95 percent of the time and the Hispanic kid would be released about 75 percent of the time," Simpson said. "The black kid would remain in detention 50 percent of the time."

One effort to curb high incarceration rates among black juveniles may begin this fall, when the nonprofit Nevada Partners Inc. of North Las Vegas will attempt to launch a federally funded pilot program to counsel those youths.

Mujahid Ramadan, executive director of the organization, also said community leaders need to meet and discuss ways of reversing the incarceration trends.

"A lot of black juveniles are coming from households headed by females, so they are at or below the poverty level," Ramadan said. "They are exposed to more violent crimes and a higher degree of drug and alcohol abuse. There are a lot of young mothers who are incapable of teaching them values that allow them to be productive in their early stages in society."