Editorial: Regard lapse in its context

Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

Jackie Crawford stepped down last week as director of Nevada's prison system following an audit that showed she had bypassed procedure in authorizing the early release of 124 inmates. The audit clearly showed that Crawford overstepped her authority, and her resignation after meeting with Gov. Kenny Guinn was the right decision. The early-release decisions were unjustifiable, but Crawford's resignation should be viewed in context of her entire career.

Guinn appointed Crawford to the state's top prison job in May 2000. With 32 years of experience in criminal justice and prison administration jobs, she was the right choice. She came to the position understanding that not all inmates are violent criminals worthy only of strict warehousing. Under her leadership, the prison system began new programs for rehabilitating inmates. We believe that should be her legacy, as those programs continue today.

Early in her tenure, Crawford persuaded the state to keep female inmates at the prison in North Las Vegas, rather than sending them off to the closed, remote facility in Jean. She wanted to keep the inmates close to community-based programs, which were helping the inmates learn skills so they could find jobs upon release. Earlier this year, she recommended a much better use for the Jean prison -- as a youth facility so that younger inmates wouldn't have to be housed with older, more hardened inmates. The facility, which will have areas set aside for counseling, drug treatment programs, classroom instruction and vocational education, is now undergoing renovation and should be ready to receive the young offenders in about a year. Pressing her theme of rehabilitation, she was responsible for infusing the prison system with work centers, counseling and drug tr eatment opportunities and transitional centers, where released inmates could live and find work while adjusting to society.

In the program that led to her resignation, Crawford got careless with credits that inmates can earn and exchange for early release. The audit says Crawford was concerned with overcrowding in medium-security prisons. Inexcusably, she began awarding credits to inmates without documentation that they had earned them, leading to dozens of inmates being released a few weeks early. In a lengthy explanation of her actions, Crawford apologized but said, "For the thousands of inmates processed, we do well."

She did a lot of things well, and we hope those worthy programs that Crawford initiated won't be jeopardized because of her temporary lapse in judgment.