Prison official: Tougher sex offender laws creating extra costs

By Cy Ryan

Thursday, April 10, 2008 | 2 a.m.

CARSON CITY — A bill sought by Gov. Jim Gibbons to tighten the reins on sex offenders is having “significant unintended consequences,” the director of the state prison system says.

During the 2007 Legislature Gibbons pushed into law a bill requiring sex offenders to register with local law enforcement agencies before they are released from prison.

It was initially believed that counties would send officials to prisons to obtain DNA samples and conduct other registration requirements.

But Howard Skolnik, director of the state Corrections Department, told the state Prison Board on Tuesday that the state, not local governments, will be required to handle the tasks.

Before the new law, sex offenders were required to register with local law enforcement within 72 hours after being released. Some inmates, however, would fail to sign up after being freed.

“An individual can go out and disappear,” Skolnik said.

Skolnik, who estimates that several hundred inmates will have to be registered annually, said that to start the program he would need $500,000 to buy three palm print units and hire four staff members. Future years’ budgets will be about $300,000, he said.

He said he plans to request an emergency appropriation to comply with the law, which takes effect July 1.

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Difficulties complying with the state’s new sex offender law probably will not be a topic of conversation when Skolnik appears in public wearing a dress — all for a good cause.

His outfit won’t feature a miniskirt or high heels. Instead Skolnik will wear a low-cut evening gown and a wig April 26 and 27 at Coronado High School in Clark County at the Relay for Life to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.

Skolnik will be part of a relay team that runs around the track for 24 hours.

Last year, he said his team raised nearly $10,000.

Skolnik said his wife picked out his dress.

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The security chief for the state’s computer system, who maintains he was fired for disclosing improper government action, will not get back his $98,000-a-year job.

James Elste, chief of information security for the state Department Information Technology, says he disclosed that hundreds of computer discs bearing personal information of thousands of state employees were missing. Workers were never notified so they could protect themselves, he said.

But state Hearing Officer Bill Kockenmeister, in a 49-page decision, says evidence shows Elste was dismissed because of insubordination and temper outbursts in meetings with other agencies.

Elste, hired in September 2006 and dismissed in July 2007, contends he was a “whistleblower” who could not be dismissed for disclosing the information.

Kockenmeister said evidence presented at a four-day hearing showed Elste disclosed information “that might constitute improper governmental action.” But he said there was no evidence that anyone was upset that Elste raised the issue of the missing computer discs.

The hearing officer said state Personnel Director Todd Rich accepted most of Elste’s recommendations. And Rich noted that no state worker has complained that his identity was stolen.

Elste said he was dismissed to keep the security breach a secret so as not to embarrass Gibbons. He said Daniel Stockwell, chief of the technology department, fired him to protect “his friend,” the governor.

At the hearing, Diane Cornwall, Gibbons’ chief of operations, testified there was no pressure to get rid of Elste, adding that no one was displeased that Elste had raised the issue of the missing CDs.