Prisons director warns of crisis if voters repeal tax increase

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004 | 9:21 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Jackie Crawford, director of the state Corrections Department, says she supports correctional officers' request for more staff and higher pay but she believes there is a bigger problem facing the prison system.

In a July 27 letter that was released at a rally of correctional officrs on Monday, Crawford told the union that represents the guards that the prisons will face a crisis if the initiative petition to repeal the $833.5 million tax increase is approved by the voters.

If voters in November approve the rollback of the taxes, Crawford said that "will undoubtedly result in more inmate crowding and in the use of fewer staff to manage a growing population.

"Given that Nevada has one of the highest incarcerations rates among all states and the second-highest inmate-to-staff ratio, we believe that this department will be in crisis if that initiative were to pass," Crawford warned.

Nevada correctional officers say the state prisons are already in a state of crisis because staff shortages have made the prisons powder kegs.

Wally Tarantino, a lawyer for the Nevada Corrections Association, said guards were encouraged by Crawford's apparent agreement with the union on many of the staffing and funding issues. It is the first time a director has ever sided with the officers on these issues, Tarantino said.

Gene Columbus, president of the association, said the staff is "stretched thin" when officers are pulled from their posts for such things as training, transportation or to relieve those who call in sick.

For instance, he said, officers in a unit that is locked down because of trouble are sometimes taken off the job for other duties, resulting in a dangerous condition.

In addition, officers recently hired but who have not completed their peace officer training, are placed alone in positions supervising inmates, he said.

About 35 off-duty officers showed up for the rally. A handful had signs that read, "Corrections, the toughest beat in Nevada," or "Public Safety: Not for Sale" or "Corrections: the backbone of Public Safety." They waved the signs at passing motorists on Carson Street, the main thoroughfare of the city.

Crawford said she dislikes pulling officers away and shutting down posts in order to stay within the budget. "We believe we should have a reasonable relief factor for vacant positions and training."

She said she will request in her upcoming budget that the prison system be able to retain and use the money saved when positions are vacant, rather than returning it to the general treasury. "At the very least we should retain 100 percent of our vacancy savings for staffing security posts with overtime," Crawford said.

Since the beginning of 2004, the prisons have had to use overtime that would compute to 23,000 hours for a year, Crawford said. Officers work overtime to replace those called to training, other duties or who are off on sick leave.

She is also supporting a wage increase for correctional officers.

"There needs to be reasonable compensation for our staff to keep our people from moving to local agencies who pay as much as $14,000 a year more for similar rank and responsibility," she said.