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Apr. 15, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Fast-track parole hearings may not restrain crowding

By ED VOGEL
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- A proposed regulation designed to speed up parole hearings might do little to curb prison crowding, a Parole Board official said Monday.

The regulation, which could be adopted by the Legislative Commission on Wednesday, would allow low-risk inmates to waive their right to appear in person for their parole hearings.

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    • "It will not create a mass exodus from prisons," said David Smith, a management analyst for the Parole Board.

    The proposed regulation comes before the Legislative Commission, a group of lawmakers that convenes when the full Legislature isn't in session, at a time when a new law aimed at reducing the prison population appears not to be working as intended.

    About 2,400 inmates in the approximate 13,000 population state prison system will be eligible for parole hearings by the end of June, according to Smith.

    He told members of the Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice, which advises the Legislature, that the Parole Board can hold about 700 hearings a month and will strive to increase that number in May and June, but will not be able to hear all cases.

    The advisory commission met by teleconference in Carson City, Las Vegas and Indian Springs. Most members were at the High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs.

    The backlog includes some 1,300 to 1,600 inmates who received additional good time credits that made them eligible for hearings because of a law passed by the Legislature last year.

    The Parole Board has not been able to make a dent in that "bubble" for numerous reasons, mainly because another new law mandates inmates can attend their own parole hearings.

    In the past, the Parole Board held many hearings without the inmates present.

    Smith, however, predicted that allowing low-risk inmates to waive the right to appear at their own hearing would speed up disposition of about 10 percent of those cases.

    Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said last week that the prison population has stabilized and that several planned prison construction projects could be delayed.

    Skolnik will close the 500-bed Southern Nevada Correctional Center in Jean in July and transfer prisoners to other prisons in the Las Vegas area.

    Recently completed construction projects at several prisons, including the women's prison in North Las Vegas, add cells for more than 700 inmates.

    As a result of Skolnik's assessment, Gov. Jim Gibbons announced Wednesday he was cutting $77 million from the prison construction budget, part of his plan to reduce state spending by $914 million.

    Before any inmates awaiting parole hearings can be released, Smith said the Division of Parole and Probation must prepare release plans. That agency is down about 50 officers, according to testimony at a hearing in March.

    Traditionally the Parole Board has paroled about half of eligible inmates. About 40 percent of the inmates now eligible for parole have backgrounds as violent criminals or sex offenders, according to Smith.

    Legislators had banked on the law increasing good time credits to keep the prison population from climbing dramatically. Other states are releasing inmates early as a way to ease crowding.

    Estimates made at the 2007 Legislature were that the prison system would add 8,000 inmates in the next 10 years.

    Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, predicted last week that the regulations could be the cure to reducing the backlog of parole hearings.

    Prison consultant James Austen released a report to the commission that showed the April 8 prison population in Nevada was nearly 13,500, or about 700 inmates more than projected when the Legislature approved the prison budget in June.

    He addressed the commission by his cell phone from Georgia.

    Austen said the prison population would have 400 to 500 fewer inmates today if the Parole Board could have handled the backlog and released inmates who received additional good time credits.

    Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.



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    Whateverusaydear wrote on April 15, 2008 07:22 PM: So since parole and probation is supposed to be about 50 officers short, who's monitoring the increasing number of felons who are to be released on parole?


    endrun wrote on April 15, 2008 05:55 PM: My apologies to you both. I should have not gotten off on the tangent I did.
    My focus is really on the problems we have in general here in Nevada, and how our elected officials are out of control at the expense of all of us.


    Ilovelasvegas wrote on April 15, 2008 03:47 PM: Herb I agree with you 100%
    Endrun, you sound like the criminal!


    Herb wrote on April 15, 2008 03:30 PM: None of us are perfect endrun, I never claimed I was. But most of us aren't criminals either. My POV does not come from hypocrisy, it comes from a sincere concern and compassion towards crime victims and their loved ones.


    Stong fist wrote on April 15, 2008 03:27 PM: Herb, I totally agree with you. If law enforcement was hard on criminals on the streets like they used to be (during John M. tenure as sheriff) there would be less crime.
    I have had enough of the bleeding heart liberals in this country. Oh boo hoo don't hurt their feelings. They came from a broken home and their mama was on crack, etc....


    endrun wrote on April 15, 2008 02:33 PM: Herb you are probably a really great guy but over the top when it comes to being as pure as you make yourself sound.

    Usally bias, prejudice, and some of the other holier than thou, pharisitical characteristics you demonstrate comes from hypocrisy.

    Most of us are just human and struggling to do the best we can since we arent perfect.

    I know of only one person that is perfect and He has nothing in common you and already has a crime free utopia. Everyone there is just thankful and not bitter or judgmental, the likes of which would probably not exist in your utopia.


    Herb wrote on April 15, 2008 02:12 PM: endrun,

    I have nothing in common with the 3 monters you mentioned. I have never been to jail once in my long life. I have never hurt anyone and never will.

    I don't recall the 3 examples you mentioned ever making anti-criminal remarks before. Of course they didn't criticize criminals, they were criminals themselves!

    The fact is if everyone was like me we would live in a crime free utopia.


    endrun wrote on April 15, 2008 01:41 PM: Herb,
    You really need to be on a watch list. You sound like Drew Peterson, Ted Kaczynski, and the Witchita Dog Catcher, all in one bundle. People that bark as loud in the way that you do are usually hiding something.


    Herb wrote on April 15, 2008 01:05 PM: The most disturbing part of this article is the comment that the prison population is stabalzing. It should be increasing by leaps and bounds until we can get every single piece of criminal trash off the streets.

    This goes in cycles. In the 1970s we became soft on crime and the crime rate expoded. In the 1990s we became tough on crime and crime fell. Now we are going through a soft on rime cycle and crime is going back up again.

    If there is any karma those of you bleeding hearts who are filled with love and compassion towards criminal scum will become their next victim when they are released early on "good time" credits.


    politik wrote on April 15, 2008 11:16 AM: A new legislation wont do any good anyway...if officials could read it they would be too inept to perform it (with or without the resources).

    The State's in shambles.

    There is too much corruption and conflicts of interest to serve the will of the people regardless of the perspective.


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