Inmate growth tops U.S. average

Tuesday, March 27, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

The Nevada prison inmate population grew at three times the national average between June 1999 and June 2000, an increase attributed primarily to the state's overall growth rate.

A U.S. Justice Department study released Sunday reported that Nevada had 9,920 inmates as of June, 4.5 percent higher than the 9,493 prisoners the federal government reported for June 1999.

Nationally, state prison populations grew by only 1.5 percent, the smallest percentage increase in 29 years. The Associated Press reported 11 states, including California and New York, experienced declines.

"We're the fastest-growing state," said Glen Whorton, chief of classification and planning for the Nevada Department of Prisons. "That's the most obvious thing that jumps out at me."

State demographer Jeff Hardcastle agreed that Nevada's population explosion was the primary reason behind the state's inmate growth rate. Nevada's population grew from 1,967,650 in June 1999 to 2,066,831 in June 2000, a 5 percent rate of growth.

"It tends to make sense because the state and prison populations are fairly close to the same percentage of growth," Hardcastle said.

The state prison system recorded slightly higher inmate populations than were found in the federal report. The state numbers were 9,982 as of June, up 4.38 percent over the 9,563 recorded in June 1999, Whorton said.

As of Monday the state had 10,175 inmates; a total of 10,470 is projected by July. Whorton said the sharpest demographic increase in the past year has been among female inmates. There were 810 female inmates on Monday, up 15.2 percent from 703 last year. But Whorton said he had no explanation for that increase.

Nevada's prisons experienced an anomaly between June 1998 and June 1999, when the inmate population grew by a mere one-tenth of 1 percent, compared to a national increase of 3.1 percent, the Justice Department reported. Whorton said the growth rate experienced in Nevada prisons during the past year was closer to normal.

In the latest study the Justice Department reported that black males nationally were incarcerated in record numbers. The report stated that nearly 80 percent of the drug felons in the nation's state prisons were racial minorities.