Proposal would move inmates from Big House to Casa Grande

Wednesday, June 9, 2004 | 8:51 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A plan to build a pre-release center for up to 400 state prison inmates gained twin approvals Tuesday.

The state Board of Examiners and the state Prison Board separately authorized the state Corrections Department to go forward with the lease purchase of six acres for the $20 million center, to be named "Casa Grande," Spanish for "big house."

The transitional housing project, slated for a light industrial area of Clark County just west of McCarran International Airport and Interstate 15, should be open in July 2005. Receiving the approval was the first step to get the program moving.

Corrections Department Director Jackie Crawford said she must now approach the Legislative Interim Finance Committee for further approval before anything can start. The committee meets June 16.

The 2003 Legislature set aside $2.6 million for the project. State Budget Director Perry Comeaux said the money would not be needed until the next two-year budget period that begins in July 2005.

Developer Irwin Molasky has been chosen to build the center and then lease it back to the state. The state will eventually end up owning the center, which will be built near the intersection of Quail Avenue and Russell Road.

There will be 200 inmates when it opens next year and 200 more in 2006.

The property, she said, is surrounded by about 1,000 companies that might hire inmates.

Inmates who have been granted parole and are trying to get jobs and to rejoin society will be housed in Casa Grande for four to six months.

The Casa Grande residents would work on the outside during the day and return at night, and would have access to a variety of programs designed to ease their transition back into civil society.

The residents will pay room and board of $14 to $15 per day to the state. Crawford said the payments by the inmates will cover the lease cost.

The corrections department already has experience with residential programs for former prison inmates as it runs a 98-bed restitution center in Reno and it is nearly full all the time, she said.

The Corrections Department will consolidate all of its offices in Southern Nevada at the site. The state Parole Board will also relocate its offices there.

Crawford told the prison and examiners boards she hopes this program will cut the rate of those returned to the prison.

The makeup of the examiners and prison boards is the same. They consist of Gov. Kenny Guinn, Secretary of State Dean Heller and Attorney General Brian Sandoval.

Sandoval was absent from both meetings Tuesday and an office spokesman said the attorney general was in Ecuador on a "diplomatic mission." He did not know the nature of the "mission" but said Secretary of State Colin Powell was with the group that will return Wednesday night.