Editorial: This program offers a ticket to success

Monday, Feb. 3, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.

Consider the plight of released prison inmates in Nevada. They get their civilian clothing back, enough money to eat three or four fast-food meals, and a bus ticket to wherever they call home. The danger for them is stepping off the bus and right back into the old life that earned them a prison sentence. The state Corrections Department has seen this revolving-door syndrome enough to understand that ex-convicts need a transitional environment upon leaving. It would be good for the inmate, who will have a better chance to live a productive life. It would be good for citizens who are potential victims of crime. And it would be good for the state, which will not have to pay for another costly trial and another costly prison term.

With so much to commend a transitional program, the state is planning, along with a nonprofit agency, Community Rehabilitation Services, to build a center in Las Vegas where inmates may go after release. Sex offenders and those convicted of violent crimes will not be eligible. But hundreds of other inmates who served time for lesser crimes will find the counseling, job training and other services they need to start over. The program, scheduled to begin this fall, is long overdue.