Prisons chief defends $300 million new construction

[Joanne98]

Prisons chief defends $300 million new construction
By ED VOGE

Ely Times Capital Bureau
CARSON CITY -- State Corrections Director Glen Whorton on Tuesday defended Gov. Jim Gibbons' decision to embark on a $300 million prison construction program as absolutely necessary to handle a growing inmate population.

"We have a high crime rate in our state and that is driving the population," Whorton told lawmakers at a joint meeting of the Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees.

"It is also because the laws you passed were designed to send people to prison for a longer time," added Jim Austin, a prison consultant who operates JFA Institute in Washington, D.C. "They don't get there by magic."

The Corrections Department wants the Legislature to approve a large prisons construction program because the inmate population, now about 12,000, is expected to grow by 8,766 inmates during the next 10 years.

A new state prison has not been built in Nevada since 2000, Whorton said, and the state needs to spend $1.9 billion on prisons between now and 2015 to keep up with the growth.

"This is catch-up," said Whorton, who noted that 70 women are housed in the men's Southern Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs because there is no room for them in the women's prison. "We have to find the beds."

http://www.elynews.com/articles/2007/01/26/news/news05.txt

[Turbineguy]

1. I'm kinda fond of prisons

I was so sad when Stalin died!:sarcasm: