Union endorses prison changes

Monday, June 10, 2002 | 9:08 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A union of state workers has endorsed a plan to overhaul the prison system to place more emphasis on programs to rehabilitate inmates so they can better return to life outside prison.

"This type of thinking is headed in the right direction," Scott MacKenzie, executive director of the State of Nevada Employees Association, said,.

But, MacKenzie cautioned, money must be dedicated to support the effort or it will fail.

"We're challenging the taxpayers to step up to the plate and fund this," MacKenzie said, adding that there are other demands on the budget from schoolteachers and state workers.

His comments came at a public hearing Friday in Las Vegas that was aired in Carson City via teleconference.

The Governor's Study Committee on Corrections, after a six-month study, said the state has failed to pay enough attention to getting less-risky inmates ready for release.

"Nevada has succeeded at preserving public safety by keeping convicted offenders off the streets," the report said. "Unfortunately, the Nevada Department of Corrections has not had a well-defined departmental mission to promote offender rehabilitation or self change."

Lonnie Wright, a member of the corrections committee, said the community needs to get involved with this program.

"This is a whole new culture. The people are ready for it," Wright, of the Community College of Southern Nevada, said.

"The other model of corrections did not work," he said, noting a high rate of inmates return to prison after being released. The changes are intended to reduce the recidivism, Wright said.

Timothy Shannon of Las Vegas, who said he was involved in the federal work force investment act and other similar programs, praised the report. He said there were "large pools" of federal money the state might tap into for such programs in the future.

Many of them do not require matching funds from the state, he said.

MacKenzie told the committee that he didn't want to see the safety of correctional officers being sacrificed for programs.

"We need minimum staffing levels in the institutions to protect them and the public," the union leader said.

Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, a member of the committee, told MacKenzie to push the governor to include money in his budget for the suggested changes.

"It may be necessary that state revenue needs to be enhanced," Amodei said.

Amodei said it was important that the money appear in the budget the governor sends to the Legislature. "If it's not in the budget you're starting up a steeper hill," he said.

The committee, headed by Corrections Director Jackie Crawford, suggests that an addition to the High Desert State Prison in Southern Nevada be delayed at a savings of $26 million. Th money should be diverted into rehabilitation, training and education programs, according to the committee.