Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- The state Parole and Probation Division has notified district judges that many parolees and probationers who flee Nevada will not be returned if they are caught in other states.
And victims of crimes will have to wait longer for their restitution payments, division officials said.
Those are the latest effects of cutbacks in state government spending ordered by Gov. Kenny Guinn.
Division Chief R. Warren Lutzow, who is retiring Jan. 3, said his agency has been ordered to stop hiring for vacant positions and reduce spending because of lower-than-expected tax revenues.
In response to Guinn's Oct. 1 order to cut 3 percent of its spending, the division sliced its budget by $842,194. It reduced its program to return parole and probation violators by $46,008; it saved $185,803 by adopting a hiring freeze; it limited loans to parolees for tools and housing; and it stopped purchases of equipment and janitorial services at some offices.
Lutzow said the Parole and Probation Division ceased returning any probationer or parole violator who is outside the state of Nevada on Oct. 1.
The only exceptions are those offenders who the division has allowed to transfer their supervision to another state. He said the state is required by the rules of the Interstate Compact to return those violators.
Deputy Parole Chief Amy Wright of Las Vegas said when a person on probation or parole "absconds" from the state, the parole division has a judge issue an arrest warrant. Those warrants are put into the national crime database so that when the person is picked up in another state, Nevada is notified to come and get him or her.
Wright said there are about 2,900 warrants outstanding. She said the new policy would be implemented on a case-by-case basis.
"We will return only the most violent or sexual offenders," Wright said. But she said others who are picked up outside Nevada will not be extradited.
In many cases, Wright said the parolee or probationer may have committed a crime in another state and will be held there to answer for it. If the individual has not committed any crime, then he will probably be released to the community if Nevada does not seek extradition.
Lt. Jim Moses of the Metro Police fugitive detail said he has mixed feelings about how the cuts will effect his unit.
"It will lessen a burden in terms of coordinating extradition, but these people don't stop committing crimes, and they will be recommitting crimes in other states," Moses said.
Most criminals commit property crimes, not violent crimes, Moses said, so the "proliferation of thievery" will spread if these people flee Nevada.
Asked if any judges have objected to the policy, Wright said she has not had any calls except from the news media.
In his Dec. 10 letter to the judges, Lutzow said the division is collecting restitution from offenders in record amounts. He said his division is down three positions, and that payments from offenders to victims will take about 90 days in the future.
"We have restructured our existing staff in an attempt to restore restitution payouts to victims in a timely manner and we are attempting to obtain funding to hire additional staff," Lutzow said.
Wright said the division handles an average of $205,359 a month for victims of crime. The agency was making the payments in a 30-day cycle but it will now take about three months because the unit that handles the work has shrunk from eight workers to five.
Wright said the division asked for $50,000 in contingency funds from the state to help out with its shortfall, but it received only $25,000.
Gov. Kenny Guinn said he did not know about the new policy but he said that and other agencies have no other choice in view of the dark financial picture for the state.
He said there may be "draconian" measures taken but the state has to finish the year with a balanced budget. He said the agencies know where best to cut the budgets.
Guinn said other programs such as the one to provide low cost prescription drugs to low income seniors is capped and a waiting list is growing.
"I know it's a struggle but we can't replace people (state workers)," he said.
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