State prison to remain open

Lawmakers Tuesday voted to reverse the governor's budget recommendation and keep Nevada State Prison open for the next two years.

That decision and others by the joint Senate Finance/Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee put a nearly $30 million hole in the Department of Corrections budget " a hole Director Howard Skolnik said they will need to fill somehow. He has warned repeatedly his department's budgets can't be cut any further in other areas without jeopardizing the safety of inmates and his staff.

Closure of NSP would actually have saved the department more than $33 million during the biennium.

Lawmakers also voted against Gov. Jim Gibbons' recommended closure of the Tonopah Conservation Camp, which will add $1.98 million to the hole.

In addition, they voted to delete $5.47 million each year the governor's budget had included as revenue from leasing Southern Nevada Correctional Center to the federal immigration service.

The panel chaired by Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Las Vegas, offset part of the cost by reducing the budget $4.4 million to reflect new, lower projections for how many inmates Nevada will have in prison over the next two years.

They saved even more by voting to delay the opening of High Desert Prison Phase 5 " $11.2 million. In addition, the panel voted to delay the opening of Three Lakes Valley Conservation Camp two years. With Tonopah still open, the system doesn't need the capacity and keeping it closed covers most of Tonopah's operating costs " $1.6 million over the coming two years.

When all those numbers are put together, the total lawmakers will have to find to balance the Department of Corrections budget is $27.84 million.

Skolnik said he is concerned that lawmakers will decide to eliminate the project to expand Warm Springs prison in Carson City " which will replace NSP when that 146-year-old institution is finally closed. The latest Capital Improvement Projects list includes $62 million in bonding to expand culinary and other core operations at Warm Springs " located next door to NSP " and add three new housing units.Skolnik recommended closing NSP in the first place, saying it was the only way he could meet the governor's budget targets. The move was strongly opposed by unions representing the nearly 200 people who work there. They enlisted Carson City officials as well, who argued now is not the time to put so many people out of work.

Skolnik has said most of those jobs will come back as jobs at Warm Springs. But expanding that prison will take time.

The proposals were approved unanimously by both Senate and Assembly members on the subcommittee.

The decisions must still be ratified by the full Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees, including finding a way to fill the hole in the corrections budget.

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