Huge number of inmates to get parole hearings in February

Because of changes made by the 2007 Legislature, 1,602 inmates will be eligible for parole hearings in February.

That is 12 percent of Nevada's total inmate population and nearly two and a half times the number who normally receive hearings in any one month.

David Smith of the Parole Board said the increase is a direct result of prison reform legislation approved by the Legislature.

"Normally, we hold about 700 discretionary and mandatory hearings each month," said Smith. "Most of this is as a result of the extra credits from AB510."

The governor and Legislature agreed in the 2007 session to increase good time credits and make other changes that would reduce prison overcrowding. Without changes, the estimates were it would cost Nevada $1.95 billion to construct the necessary new prisons to house the burgeoning inmate population.

Director of Corrections Howard Skolnik too said the overload is "very likely just the unintended consequences of AB510."

AB510 doubled the amount of good time credits inmates can earn for good conduct, substance abuse and behavior courses and educational classes, making the doubled credits retroactive in many cases.

He said the other contributor to the number of inmates eligible is the new law giving inmates the right to be present at all of their hearings.

To meet that requirement, he said video-conferencing equipment has to be installed in all Nevada's prisons and camps. There is equipment at Nevada State Prison in Carson City, Lovelock, Ely, High Desert in southern Nevada, the North Las Vegas women's prison and Casa Grande transitional center.

But Smith said it will take several more months to install the video equipment in all the camps where most of the inmates eligible for release are housed.

To further compound the problem, only five of the seven board positions are filled. Smith said once those positions are filled, the board will be able to hear more cases.

He said for all those reasons, the board simply can't hold hearings for all the inmates eligible in a month.

Nick Vander Poel of the governor's office said the two additional parole board members should be named in the next couple of weeks.

"We have stellar candidates," he said. "We expect they're going to be able to hit the ground and run with it."

Smith said some of the inmates on the February list were eligible in November and December but couldn't be heard.

"There are a lot we couldn't get to see so we're rescheduling the ones we couldn't get done," he said.

He said there will be more cases carried over each month until the board catches up.

"We're not expecting everything to flatten out again until this summer," he said.

• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.