Nevada Prison Director Howard Skolnik testifies Thursday, March 5, 2009, at the Legislature in Carson City, Nev. Lawmakers questioned Thursday whether this is the right time to shut down the old Nevada State Prison, as proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons, and build a new prison. (AP Photo/Nevada Appeal, Cathleen Allison)
Nevada Director of Corrections Howard Skolnik told lawmakers Thursday that an order blocking him from further reductions at Nevada State Prison will result in more layoffs when the old prison finally closes.
Closing NSP is in the governor's proposed budget. It would save about $18 million a year and result in the loss of some 170 jobs in Carson City.
Last fall, Skolnik began reducing the number of inmates and staff at NSP, transferring them to other institutions. He also was filling vacancies at the other two Carson prisons with NSP transfers in an effort to avoid or reduce layoffs.
He said outside the hearing room Thursday that he believes a gradual shutdown could have reduced the number of layoffs to 80-90.
But lawmakers objecting to the idea of shutting NSP protested, ordering him to stop until they decide what to do.
Skolnik told the joint Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee he won't be able to save as many employees from layoffs if NSP closes all at once July 1.
"We can absorb the majority of that staff at other locations," he said.
The problem is those positions are nearly all in Southern Nevada. Skolnik said he doubts most of those prison workers will agree to transfer.
"The majority of staff at NSP are longterm Northern Nevada residents and they would not take the transfers," he said.
NSP staff can 'bump' those with less seniority
He said the actual employees who will lose jobs aren't the ones stationed at NSP. Senior officers there will, instead, "bump" younger officers with less seniority at Northern Nevada Correctional Center and Warm Springs.
Dennis Mallory of the State of Nevada Employees Association said the fear of being bumped already has caused more than 50 younger officers to transfer out of NSP and NNCC.
He agreed many would refuse a transfer to the south but doubted that Skolnik could have saved as many from layoffs as he claims.
For the next few years, Mallory said, the solution is to keep NSP open and expand Warm Springs next door.
Lawmakers also have objected to closing the prison, which can hold about 700 inmates, at the same time they are being asked to spend $221 million to build a prison in Southern Nevada.
But Public Works Manager Gus Nunez and Skolnik said that eventually the century-old prison must close.
Nunez said the old prison has serious plumbing, electrical, safety and other problems. He said it would cost $71.5 million to remodel and renovate NSP.
"It's kind of like sprucing up a Model-T. At the end of the day, you still have a Model-T," he said. "We would never recommend you spend that kind of money at this facility."
Skolnik said that within two weeks, he will have new inmate population projections which may be low enough to delay the new prison.
In addition, he said a consultant is working on inmate classification amendments that might move more than 200 medium security inmates to minimum, allowing them to be housed in the state's conservation camps and freeing up prison beds.
Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said Skolnik needs to look at those changes and other possible solutions because she and other lawmakers still don't see the logic in shutting down a functioning prison while building another.
- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.