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North Las Vegas Detention Center cuts jobs
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Sep. 23, 2010 | 12:15 a.m.
A new federal detention center that will bring more than 230 jobs to Pahrump next month is putting 43 people out of work in North Las Vegas.
The city is laying off 19 corrections officers and 24 civilian jail workers because it is about to lose a third of its inmates to the privately owned facility in Pahrump.
As soon as the 1,072-bed Nevada Southern Detention Center opens Oct. 1, the U.S. Marshals Service will cut the number of inmates it houses at the 750-bed North Las Vegas Detention Center from 300 down to 50.
Sgt. Tim Bedwell, spokesman for the North Las Vegas Police Department, said the city is notifying the employees who will lose their jobs. "Everyone will know within a week," he said.
The city expects to save $9.7 million a year with the 43 layoffs and 10 other staff positions already eliminated by attrition at its detention center, which now employs 282 full-time workers.
Bedwell said additional money will be saved on maintenance by closing two of the jail's older dormitories and moving inmates into newer facilities built in 2002 with federal money.
"Quite frankly, it's not a money maker for the city," he said of housing federal detainees.
North Las Vegas signed a contract with the Marshals Service in 2000. The agreement is set to expire in 2015. The city also is under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house up to 150 inmates.
While the new prison will reduce the need for the Marshals Service to rent beds from city jails in the Las Vegas Valley, it won't eliminate the practice completely.
Federal inmates in the midst of a trial, for example, will still be housed in the valley whenever possible to avoid daily transport to and from Pahrump, 60 miles away.
The impact of the new detention center is apparently not being felt in Henderson, where the city is renovating and expanding its jail to almost twice its current capacity.
Spokeswoman Kathy Blaha said the city has been in discussions with the Marshals Service and expects no significant change in the number of so-called contract beds it rents out for federal inmates.
"We have no plans to cut staff," Blaha said. "In fact, we'll be adding new staff with the completion of the expansion."
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The people in Pahrump should ask the people in Kingman Arizona what they think of the private prison in their town. The prison in Kingman also was ringed with layers of razor wire and trigged an alarm if you touch it. Kingman had more than 100 cameras that record all activity inside and out. Still 3 inmates escaped after a woman walked up to the outer fence threw over the some wire cutters and the inmates escaped in a hole they cut in the fence. 2 people are now dead because the State of Arizona wanted to try to save a few bucks and have a private prisons incarcerate for profit. The lawsuits and costs from this escape will end up costing the state and tax payers ten’s of millions more than what they thought they were saving. The people in Kingman were told that only DUI “Type” inmates would be in the private prison, however after all was said and done they ended up with the worst of the worst. CCA always likes to hire local staff at first then after awhile they ‘Cut” loose the locals and transfer staff from other locations. People in Pahrump need to pray that when the inmates escape they just keep going. One good thing about Pahrump is that people own guns and will use them. It will also be nice when the inmate’s families move to Pahrump. They will rent empty homes using section 8 money and spend their entitlement money in the area. Of course Nye County and the State of Nevada will be sending the inmate families the checks for their expenses; You will get to see first hand how your federal taxes are spent supporting inmate families. Watch for the crime rate to go up as well as in any small prison town.
The reason they have fewer staff per inmate is because a private does not require a minimum staffing, and profit is more important than safety.
Incarceration for profit is nothing more than modern slavery!
The feds screwed pahrump residents and North Las Vegas. The CCA prison is not wanted here by most of the people that live here and proper notification wasnt given because of back door meetings and deals. We have corrupt officials that have sold their souls. May they rot in hell or move into their new rooms at the prison. Its what they deserve for destroying this valley.
If ICE would get busy they could fill Cashman center let alone 300 beds in the North town slam.
I thought more lay-offs throughout north las vegas was expected? 9.7 million dollars is being taken from just the jail? I thought the detention/police were the most understaffed dept. in the city? Has city hall construction stopped? That would save a lot more than 9.7 million. Didn't last week the president declare that the recession was over? Why is public safety still getting laid-off?
You mean to tell me that North Town PD can't find enough slime and scum to fill those other 250 beds?
North Vegas houses 750 inmates with 282 full-time workers. The new "private" jail will house 1,072 inmates with 240 jail workers. Difference in government running something and private industry running something. Betting that the new "private" prison was built at a much smaller cost of construction also.
If housing federal inmates "isn't a money maker for the city" then why are our jobs being cut?