Youth prison plan is opposed

Friday, Feb. 21, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn's plan to operate the Summit View youth prison near North Las Vegas with state employees is running into stiff opposition from Republican legislators.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Minden, both suggested Thursday that a private company should be sought to restart the operation of the youth prison, which has been closed since January 2002.

But Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, said not everybody agrees the state will do a bad job of running the 96-inmate secure center for serious juvenile offenders.

"I would like to see the state resume service," he said.

The comments came during a Thursday meeting of the Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee examining the spending programs of the state Division of Child and Family Services.

The state built the $14 million youth prison, which opened in June 2000, and hired Correctional Services Corp. to operate it. But the contractor pulled out in September 2001 with two years left on the contract, saying it could not make a profit, and the facility was mothballed. The prison had experienced a number of problems, including escapes and sexual contact between female staff and male inmates, while Correctional Services operated the center.

Correctional Services was paid $122 per day per inmate. The state is proposing to operate the center for $141 per day per inmate.

Hettrick said Minden-based Rite of Passage, which operates juvenile facilities, maintains it can run the detention center for $126 a day per inmate.

"I would like for us to sit down with Rite of Passage and make it happen," he said.

Hettrick said there "seems to be an ongoing dislike of Rite of Passage," which has its headquarters in the assemblyman's district.

After Correctional Services pulled out, the state again put the operation out to private bid. Securicor New Century of Richmond, Va., and Rite of Passage were the finalists, but negotiations were called off because of the state's tight financial condition.

State Human Resources Director Mike Willden told the subcommittee that the bids from the two companies were $149 per day and $160 per day. He did not identify which company submitted the lower bid, but negotiations began with Securicor.

Since the closure some delinquents have been sent to a secure facility in Tennessee and some have been placed with Rite of Passage. But a number of delinquents are in county juvenile detention centers waiting for the state to take custody of them.

Willden said he favors the state operation, suggesting the quality of staff of a private operator would not be as good as state personnel. He said a private company would pay its staff $18,000 to $19,000 a year, but the state would pay $29,000 to $30,000 a year for its group supervisors.

He said he didn't want to see a "shoddy facility" and that the state would exercise tight controls over any operation.

The state is paying $113 per day per inmate for those at the secure facility in Tennessee and $124 per day to Rite of Passage. Those contracts expire June 30.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, the chairwoman of the subcommittee, said she questioned whether Summit View was really needed. She said the state could contract out for the care of the delinquents.

The subcommittee also took a look at the budget of the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko, which was sharply criticized in a U.S. Justice Department investigation that alleged the juveniles were mistreated.

Ed Cotton, administrator of the Division of Child and Family Services, is asking to add 23 staff members to the present 97 authorized positions at Elko. He said the ratio is usually 15 youths to one employee but sometimes as high as 30 juveniles to one worker.

The federal government recommends one employee for eight inmates. If the Legislature approves the recommendation, there would be one supervisor per 10 juveniles in the daytime and one employee per 16 inmates at night.

The investigation found that some of the delinquents committed to Elko were beaten and kicked and had their heads smashed into doors by staff. It found a "pattern or practice of use of excessive force" at the training center.

Cotton said corrections were made long before the federal agency issued its report. Two staff members were fired.