Raggio raps prison official, then food funding is restored

Wednesday, April 16, 2003 | 10:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, delivered a severe dressing down to state prison officials Tuesday but then voted to restore $750,000 to their budget to cover additional costs costs of inmate food.

Raggio and his Senate Finance Committee last week deleted $750,000 from the $17 million food budget for the inmates.

Glen Whorton, assistant director of operations for the state Department of Corrections, then wrote a letter to the committee complaining about the action. Contents of the letter were not officially disclosed.

But Raggio said the letter accused the staff of the committee of taking "retaliatory" action against the prison.

"The chairman takes offense to that," Raggio told Whorton and other department officials. "This was not acceptable."

Whorton urged the committee to restore the money.

"Food is a very significant security issue," he said.

The state prison system has not received increases to cover the effect of inflation on food costs in the past but Gov. Kenny Guinn included it this time in his budget.

Darrel Rexwinkel, assistant director for finance in the corrections department, said the system now produces 11 million meals a year at an average cost of $2.29 a day. That's less than the average of $4.41 in prisons in western states, he said.

A dietitian certifies the meals and inmates receive an average of 2,900 calories daily.

He said Arizona provides 3,200 to 3,400 calories per inmate per day.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said he was concerned that too many of the calories might come from starch.

"We pay for a lot of heart attacks over the years because of bad diets," he said.

The committee voted unanimously to restore the $750,000 and Raggio ended the discussion telling Whorton "to heed the admonition."

The committee noted that the governor did not include any inflationary costs for the state Division of Child and Family Services for the food it supplies its wards. But Whorton said that division receives a "significant larger" budget for food than does the prison.