NLV, feds locked in conflict

David Kihara

Monday, Jan. 9, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

The federal government sometimes appears to be a bottomless well of money, but does that well eventually dry up?

That issue was raised recently in Southern Nevada when the North Las Vegas Detention Center sought to increase how much it charges the U.S. Marshals Service to house inmates. For several years, the jail charged the federal government $72 a day per inmate to house upward of 450 inmates at the jail.

But because of rising costs, North Las Vegas is trying to renegotiate the deal.

A recent audit by Management Partners of San Jose, Calif., showed that the North Las Vegas jail was losing almost $1 million a year because the jail spends about $79 a day to house inmates there -- meaning it was losing more than $7 a day per federal inmate.

But the Marshals Service isn't very happy about a price increase. Marshals Service officials say that if their rates are increasing, so should the rates of other agencies that house inmates at the jail, such as Henderson or Las Vegas. Both those cities, as well as the Clark County Detention Center, Lincoln County and Mesquite, send inmates to North Las Vegas when they don't have room at their jails.

Those cities and counties spend about $70 a day to house inmates in North Las Vegas.

"Is the federal government being asked to subsidize the costs for everyone else?" asked Fidencio Rivera, chief deputy marshal in Las Vegas.

The Marshals Service houses more than 54,000 detainees nationwide and pays on average about $62 a day per inmate, according to the U.S. Marshals Prisoners Service Division monthly report.

So why should the marshals pay a higher rate to North Las Vegas than the national average and, more importantly, why should the marshals pay more than the local jurisdictions pay, Rivera asked.

"Why lose money with us and lose more with everyone else?" he said.

The Marshals Service spends about $14 million a year to house detainees at the North Las Vegas jail, which is more than half of the jail's $24 million annual budget. According to North Las Vegas, there were about 433 federal inmates at the jail, including prisoners from the Marshals Service and Homeland Security Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

North Las Vegas Assistant Police Chief Joe Forti, who heads the jail, said the majority of inmates are federal and only about 50 are from other local jurisdictions. The jail holds about 800 people.

"At any given time, we could have more federal inmates than local ones," Forti said. "Shouldn't they carry the larger part of the burden? If I didn't have 450 inmates, would I need the staff? The staffing and the food contributes to the cost of operating the jail."

But Forti also conceded that it wasn't charging the local government higher rates in part because the jail wanted to keep the costs lower for Henderson, Las Vegas and other local entities.

"We try to stick together and try to keep our rates down for each other. Should we be charging more and could we be charging more? Yes, we could," he said. "I don't think we're trying to screw the federal government, but it could appear that way."

The Marshals Service has no intention of skipping out on its bill, but it is facing money problems as well. In February 2004, the Marshals Service placed a moratorium on all rate increases because of concerns that it was losing money, Rivera said.

The Marshals Service, Rivera said, started tightening its belt in order to make the $1.1 billion inmate budget go further. For example, it stopped transporting inmates by plane and has attempted to find jails that accept inmates at a lower cost.

But he said the Marshals Service doesn't have many options when it comes to housing inmates in Southern Nevada.

Already it has started contracting with jails out of state because there is no room here. The Marshals Service contracts with San Diego at a fixed rate of $98 per prisoner for the first 300 inmates and $68 for each additional prisoner. It also contracts with Florence, Ariz., to house inmates at just under $76 a day.

"Our goal is to pay North Las Vegas a fair rate," Rivera said. "But we don't want to get soaked."

David Kihara can be reached at 259-2330 or at davidk@lasvegassun.com.