The Board of Examiners has approved adding $1.25 million to the Department of Corrections budget, primarily because the inmate population is significantly larger than projected.
Deputy Director Scott Sisco told the board consisting of the governor, secretary of state and attorney general $542,287 is to open and staff another wing at the Florence McClure women’s prison in North Las Vegas. He said as of June 2013, there were 781 female inmates there. Now, he said, there are 955 and the institution is housing them in overflow and emergency beds. The added unit, he said, will handle 98 inmates. The money will pay for about 10 added correctional staff to manage the new unit.
In addition, the board approved $708,645 to be added to the prison medical program. Again, the reason is the growth of the inmate population. Sisco said inmate medical costs are calculated at $1,052 per inmate per year. Sisco said the system currently has 689 more inmates than it was budgeted for. He said corrections has managed to absorb a large part of the added costs using salary savings but can’t cover everything.
The items must be approved by the next Legislative Interim Finance Committee since the money comes out of the IFC contingency fund.