Nevada said to have low prison recidivism rate

Thursday, March 31, 2005 | 11:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Inmates released from prison in Nevada do better at keeping out of trouble than the national average, an expert on inmates told lawmakers Wednesday.

James F. Austin, who calculates population estimates for Nevada's prison system, told a legislative budget committee that the national recidivism rate nationally is, at best, 40 percent for those who commit new crimes within three years about being released.

In Nevada, he said, the rate was 26 percent. "That is real low," he said.

But he added that a substantial part of the prison population in Nevada comes from California and when released, they return to that state where they may commit another crime.

In addition, he said there is a substantial number of illegal immigrants in the prison who when released "go south."

Nevada's strong economy may play a part in the state's low recidivism rate because ex-cons may be able to get jobs when they are freed from prison, he suggested.

The youthful offender is the most likely to commit another crime when released from prison, he said.

"Men burn out with age," he said. "Stick a fork in them and they are done," referring to the older inmates who probably won't re-commit a crime if released.

That's why, he said, the state should concentrate its resources on the young offender, 18-25 years old. "They are more likely to go out and commit serious crimes," he said.

Austin, whose firm JFA Associates of Washington, D.C., has been hired by the state to do a number of studies on prison and parole.

The "incarceration" rate in Nevada is 471 persons per 100,000 population, which is higher than the national average of 422. One reason, he said is that Nevada judges have an extremely low rate of granting probation.

The national rate for probation is 1,862 per 100,000 people as opposed to 716 per 100,000 people in Nevada.

"This needs to be explored," he said in assessing the need for more prison beds.

Austin is predicting that the state's prison population will grow an average of about 3 percent per year in the next decade. The more than 11,000 inmates is expected to grow to more than 16,000 by the year 2015, he estimated.

His figures are used by the budget committees in their determination of funding for the prison system.

When questioned by the committee about his prison population estimates, he said the number of prisoners could spike if more judges and police are added.

Additional judges would mean cases are handled quicker and the offender gets to prison sooner. And more police could result in more arrests. It "depends on how they are deployed," he said.

He also told the committee that putting more people in prison will not, on its own, result in a major reduction in crime. He said social policies must be started to initially stop the crimes rather than feeding "the back end of the system" -- the prisons.

In 2003, the crime rate in Nevada rose 9 percent while nationally the crime rate fell 1.5 percent.

"I don't know why," Austin said. "I assume it was a one-time blip."