Halls of justice can’t catch up to growth

Sam Skolnik

Monday, Oct. 16, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.

Clark County's criminal justice infrastructure has failed to keep up with record growth.

Jails are jammed, forcing inmates to sleep on cots. Police don't have a modern, centralized headquarters, instead scattering functions around 60 offices across the county.

Clark County's courts already are outgrowing their 10-month-old courthouse. Soon after the Regional Justice Center opened, judges began complaining about the need for more space and say it's urgent that the county build a second courthouse tower next to the existing one in downtown Las Vegas.

Yet those plans have effectively been put on hold for as much as a decade or longer, a notion causing serious concerns among top court officials.

"The whole system is kind of approaching critical mass," Chief District Judge Kathy Hardcastle said. "Clark County is really going to be hurting if we wait that long."

The long-term need for new criminal justice facilities and added staffing was detailed in January in a master plan for county facilities.

The report concluded that by 2025, Clark County will need 48 new District Court judges, and about 3,000 new employees will be needed to work throughout an expanded criminal justice community. The county already has 33 District Court judges and 1,984 staffers, district attorneys and public defenders.

The analysis, conducted by Dan Wiley & Associates, was based on the belief that the county's population will grow 56 percent over the next two decades. That growth, according to the analysis, will in turn result in a total caseload growth of 118 percent in the county's courts. The analysts note that it's not uncommon for caseloads to grow faster than population in rapidly growing areas.

Among the report's recommendations:

The Regional Justice Center became operational late last year after numerous delays. It cost taxpayers $185 million.

Three new judges will be moving into the courthouse early next year, according to court officials. But that will effectively take up most of the building's remaining open space.

Yet judges and court administrators will be lobbying the Legislature early next year for 10 more judges to help alleviate huge and rapidly increasing caseloads. If the courts are granted funding for all 10, Hardcastle said, those judges would take the bench in 2009.

Four of those judges would be assigned to the downtown courthouse, which is what would cause the district attorney to move out of the building. The other six judges would be assigned to Family Court in its courthouse at North Pecos and East Bonanza roads - which also is facing a space crisis.

In fact, there is no space left there. To accommodate the one new Family Court judge who is taking the bench there next year, county workers have torn down part of the clerk's office to turn it into a courtroom.

According to Assistant Clark County Manager Elizabeth Quillin, county officials are aware of the court system's space and facilities problems and are planning long term to build a second courthouse. But set aside any notion that project would be in the works within the next five years, as court officials have hoped.

There is a chance the second courthouse tower will be funded eight or nine years from now, although it easily might take more than a decade, Quillin said. Put simply, the county has more pressing concerns.

"The No. 1 priority right now is the detention crisis," Quillin said. Balancing the needs of judges versus those of jailers, she said, "the jailers win, hands down."

In fact, the jails are badly overcrowded. Last week, the Clark County Detention Center was housing about 3,600 inmates, although the jail has only 2,857 beds, said Metro Police Deputy Chief Mikel Holt, who runs the jail. He said he's been forced to provide the overflow inmates with cots and "bed rentals."

Although Holt said he hasn't yet seen a substantial increase in the number of altercations between inmates, his jail can't be run efficiently with any more than 3,000 inmates. Relief is needed, he said - especially given that over the last three years, the number of inmates has grown by an average of 9 percent each year.

Quillin said plans for two new jails are in the works, including one facility for low-level offenders, which will contain 500 to 1,000 beds, and a second jail for high-risk inmates, with 2,000 beds. Both should be completed within five years, she said.

She said it is possible that the second jail may be built on the site of the old Clark County Courthouse at Third Street and Carson Avenue - as part of a new complex that would include a new headquarters for Metro.

The administrative offices for Metro - which is funded both by the county and the city - are currently located in just a floor-and-a-half of space inside Las Vegas City Hall. Departmental units are located in 60 offices around the county. Police have long complained about how inefficient the current setup is, and how police in virtually every other city Las Vegas' size and larger nationwide have a dedicated, fully integrated headquarters.

Metro would like to consolidate its crime lab, internal affairs, human resources and many of the detective squads under one roof, but it would keep its seven regional offices or "area commands," what many police departments call precincts.

Sheriff Bill Young has recommended the old courthouse site for the new headquarters and adjacent jail. Holt agrees that the site, just a block from the existing jail and the courthouse, makes the most sense. Quillin said the site is one of three the county is looking at.

Hardcastle and Chuck Short, the courts' chief executive, say they understand the pressing need for new jails. But they argue that a comprehensive approach is needed to fund the whole system. Having more jail beds is of little use, Short said, if there aren't enough prosecutors to try the offenders, judges to hear the cases or courtrooms to hear them in.

"It's not thoughtful. It's not the best use of the taxpayer dollar," Short said.