Legislative panel approves prisons budget

CARSON CITY -- A legislative budget panel voted Friday for a $600 million-plus Nevada prisons budget that anticipates savings from releasing more prisoners who earn good-time credits -- but much of that savings will pay for more parole officers to supervise them.

Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, a co-chairman of the panel, said that even if giving good-time credits does help the state get its prison population under control, the savings won't be as great as originally thought.

"We're trying to stop this train from speeding forward," Parks said. "We're not going to slow it down overnight."

Current projections call for a state prison population of 14,146 by 2009. If lawmakers vote to pass the good-time and program credits currently being discussed, the state could hold about 1,500 fewer inmates by that point.

A Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee voted to move half of the saved money -- about $3.3 million -- to the lawmakers' Interim Finance Committee. From there, it could end up going back to the Department of Corrections if the estimates about prisoner releases are wrong.

Alternatively, the savings could be used to hire more parole officers, or go to treatment programs for offenders.

But state prisons chief Howard Skolnik said that if the numbers are right, his department and the parole-probation agency shouldn't need the money. Skolnik said he's pleased with the vote, which followed staff recommendations that were agreeable to prison officials.

The savings still aren't a sure thing, since the legislation that would increase the credits still has not been passed, and details are still being worked out. Nor is it clear how many of the released inmates and probationers would be put on parole.

Regardless of what happens with that money, lawmakers voted Friday to add 15 parole and probation officers to the 32 extra staffers recommended in the governor's original budget. The 15 extra officers will cost about $2.4 million over two years. Some of that will be paid for with cuts in other areas.

The extra officers will allow parole and probation officials to maintain the current caseload-to-staff ratios, Parks said. For prisoners under intensive supervision, one parole officer oversees 30 offenders. For general supervision, the ratio is 70 to one officer.

About 2,000 low-risk offenders are under administrative supervision, which means they have minimal contact with parole officers, but report regularly to parole offices.