Las Vegas NowOld Prison May Stay Open

Old Prison May Stay Open

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 near Las Vegas.

During a joint Assembly-Senate budget subcommittee hearing, Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said the public wouldn't understand why NSP, located on the east side of Carson City, would close and money would be spent on a new "Prison 8" in southern Nevada when funding can't be found to renovate schools.

"We have kids going to schools that are 30 years older than some of those buildings (at NSP)," Smith said. "Some of those resemble the schools we see in Washoe County, that we cannot renovate or replace."

The lawmakers asked prison officials for details on how much it would cost to build a new medical facility and execution chamber, which are part of the $200 million-plus Prison 8 construction plan, and hold off on the rest of the construction.

The state would have no execution chamber if NSP closed, and currently has to transport inmates from southern Nevada for medical care at the prison system's medical facility located in northern Nevada.

"We're going to have to close that thing, but I don't think it can be closed this session," Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said about NSP after the budget hearing. "We're just not ready to do it. At this point, we don't have the money to rehabilitate it. But we can keep it patched together."

Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said the governor recommended closing the old NSP in efforts to reduce budget costs, adding that the main reason wasn't the physical condition of the prison.

"We could not close the women's prison because we only had one, we could not close the Ely prison because we only have one maximum-security facility, and we could not close Warm Springs (prison) because it did not meet the numbers we had to target," Skolnik said.

Skolnik cautioned that the closure of NSP would lead to the loss of 200 jobs. He said those employees would have the option to transfer to other prisons but probably would not because most are northern Nevada residents and most prison jobs would be in southern Nevada.

Gus Nunez, state Public Works Board manager, showed the lawmakers photos of rusted and corroded water and sewer lines at NSP, and explained that it would cost over $70 million to renovate the prison.

"The situation over there is not good at this time, and it's in dire need, in our opinion, of not replacement, but shutting down some of these older facilities," Nunez said. But he added the prison could stay open with about $30 million in temporary repairs.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)