MINUTES OF THE JOINT MEETING OF

SENATE Committee on Judiciary

AND

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

 

Seventy-First Session

March 12, 2001

 

 

The joint meeting of Senate Committee on Judiciaryand Assembly Committee on Judiciary was called to order by Senate Chairman Mark A. James, at 9:00 a.m., on Monday, March 12, 2001, in Room 4100 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada.  Exhibit A is the Agenda.  Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster.  All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

 

SENATE COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Senator Mark A. James, Chairman

Senator Jon C. Porter, Vice Chairman

Senator Mike McGinness

Senator Maurice Washington

Senator Dina Titus

Senator Valerie Wiener

Senator Terry Care

 

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Mr. Bernard (Bernie) Anderson, Chairman

Mrs. Sharron E. Angle

Ms. Barbara E. Buckley

Mr. John C. Carpenter

Mr. Jerry D. Claborn

Mr. Tom Collins

Mr. Donald G. Gustavson

Mrs. Ellen M. Koivisto

Mr. Mark A. Manendo

Ms. Kathy McClain

Mr. Dennis Nolan

Mr. John Wayne Oceguera

 

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

Mr. Greg Brower (Excused)

Ms. Genie Ohrenschall (Excused)

 

SENATE STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Bradley A. Wilkinson, Senate Committee Counsel

Allison Combs, Senate Committee Policy Analyst

Carolyn Allfree, Senate Committee Secretary

 

ASSEMBLY STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Risa Lange, Assembly Committee Counsel

Nicholas Anthony, Assembly Committee Analyst

Rebekah Langhoff, Assembly Committee Secretary

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

Jackie Crawford, Director, Department of Prisons

Glen Whorton, Chief, Classification/Planning, Department of Prisons

Dr. Ted D’Amico, Medical Director, Department of Prisons

Jane Foraker-Thompson, Lobbyist, Religious Alliance in Nevada

James F. Kelly, Chaplain, Northern Nevada Correctional Center

Mark LeCoque, Director, Education for Prison Programs, Lovelock Correctional Center

 

Senate Chairman James opened the hearing on Senate Bill (S.B.) 193.

 

SENATE BILL 193:  Makes various changes concerning department of prisons. (BDR 16-311)

 

Senate Chairman James stated this bill was requested by him, on behalf of the Senate Judiciary Committee, working with the Department of Prisons.  He said Jackie Crawford, Director, Department of Prisons, has worked hard making changes in the way prisons operate.  He explained that during the past few sessions the Nevada Legislature has been concerned with making sure offenders serve the right amount of time for their offenses, violent offenders are put away for many years, and alternatives to incarceration are instituted.  He noted that lawmakers have a responsibility to both offenders and society, because the vast majority of offenders are eventually released to the streets and need to have the opportunity to become contributing members of society.  “That is what Senate Bill 193 is all about,” he said.

 

Assembly Chairman Anderson concurred with the remarks made by Senate Chairman James.  He said he has a concern, however, with how well prepared the people who will administer the program, as well as the personnel who work on a day-to-day basis with the prisoners, will be.

 

Jackie Crawford, Director, Department of Prisons, explained the purpose of S.B. 193; it sets a new direction for prison management and defines the responsibilities of corrections professionals.  The bill does not have a huge fiscal impact, she said, but it does propose a division to oversee and organize existing resources for better offender management.

 

Ms. Crawford made a presentation describing the current prison program and proposed changes (Exhibit C.  Original is on file in the Research Library.).  S.B. 193 does three things, she said:  it changes the name of the Department of Prisons to the Department of Corrections, it establishes structured living and unit management, and it creates an Offender Management Division.  Ms. Crawford explained that most of these programs are already in place, and S.B. 193 solidifies and organizes what is being done.  She said Lovelock Correctional Center is their model and presents a balanced approach to security, programming, and good organization.  She presented a video, produced by inmates, illustrating a typical day in the Lovelock Correctional Center (Exhibit D.  Original is on file in the Research Library.).

 

Ms. Crawford said there are 10,000 inmates and approximately 2500 staff in the Nevada prison system, which is comprised of 21 different institutions, facilities, camps, and restitution centers.  Camps provide service for the Nevada Division of Forestry; restitution centers prepare individuals for transition back into the community, she explained.  There is a great deal of diversity in the inmate population, and the facilities need to be managed accordingly to optimally utilize both the resources and tax dollars.

 

Ms. Crawford described the programs outlined in Exhibit C, which are designed to prepare offenders for transition to the community.  Offenders being released to the community need literacy skills, a work ethic, and job skills in order to be successful.  In facilities where these programs are in place and people are occupied with activities, the atmosphere is mellower and staff personnel enjoy their jobs, she added.  Brute force, she said, is debilitating for inmates and staff alike.

 

Senate Chairman James asked how old “youths” in the youthful offender program are, and Ms. Crawford replied that they are 16 to 18 years old.  Chairman James inquired about the advisability of putting a 16-year-old into the general prison population, and Ms. Crawford responded that where a youth is placed depends upon the stature of the individual and the seriousness of the crime.  Some youths are more sophisticated than some of the older population, she said.  Chairman James asked if there are adequate resources and space to segregate youthful offenders who should not be mixing with the general prison population.  Ms. Crawford said that with the opening of High Desert State Prison space became available at Southern Desert Correctional Center.  Additionally, she said, Governor Guinn allocated funds for upgrading a living area for youthful offenders.  Chairman James asked if there is any law requiring this to be done, and Ms. Crawford answered that there is not.

 

Assemblyman Anderson asked how the literacy program meshes with local school district programs, and Ms. Crawford replied that the literacy program is an enhancement paid for with $1.3 million in life-skill money and works in a partnership with local school districts.

 

Assemblyman Anderson asked if security guards would have training for the changing role they will be playing.  Ms. Crawford responded by citing the example of the Lovelock Correctional Center, where security measures have remained intact, but improved morale has contributed to an elevated sense of safety and security.  She said, “We have people who are actively busy, they are not idle, they are directed, and we have actually more control.  It is a psychological control as opposed to just a physical control . . . We provide opportunities for offenders, and we provide them direction; but . . . we are there to ensure safety and if we have to use physical force we will . . . There has never been any change . . . We are just adding a new dimension.”

 

Assemblyman Anderson asked whether people who are accustomed to being guards and utilized in a particular fashion would be able to adapt, without any special training, to the wider variety of tasks.  Ms. Crawford responded that staff is already performing these tasks.  What the Department of Prisons is asking for now is solidification and organization through legislation, she said.

 

Assemblyman Anderson said he had the impression the prisons were understaffed, and he is interested in knowing what training new correctional staff will receive.  He asked Ms. Crawford if she had additional information she could provide to his office that might reflect the new attitude.

 

Senator Washington said he had received complaints from inmates having a difficult time receiving religious materials, which have been screened very heavily.  He asked if there was a policy throughout the system regarding this matter.  Ms. Crawford replied that they do have policies, but she was unaware that religious materials were being screened; she said she would like to look into the matter.

 

Senator Washington said there were family members and clergy who might like to access the policy and procedures in order to be sure they are complying with regulations.  Ms. Crawford said she would research and gather the information for Senator Washington.  Senator Washington expressed a concern that the prisons lack clergy of color.  He asked if there is some way to broaden the horizon to allow clergy of color to go in and minister to the inmates.  Ms. Crawford said it would be a policy issue that she would need to research and correct, if necessary.  Chairman James asked Ms. Crawford to provide copies of the policies and procedures regarding religious activities to Assemblyman Collins and the chairmen of the committees, and she agreed to do so.

 

Senator Care asked if there is evidence the program Ms. Crawford is advocating leads to a reduction in recidivism or enhances the opportunities for a prisoner to receive employment on the outside.  He said, “I don’t know that an employer on the outside is even going to care what kind of a program any inmate has ever been through . . . Or is . . . the focus to remain on, simply, a more secure environment within the prisons themselves?”

 

Ms. Crawford said the program is almost nationwide, that 75 percent of the prison population returns to the community and the department believes that providing adequate skills for the inmates will make them more employable.  She said she believes making a person employable has reduced recidivism and provides for a safer community.

 

Assemblywoman Angle asked Ms. Crawford to describe how she is utilizing staff in the structured-living program.  Assemblywoman Angle said she was given statistics on discipline when she recently toured the Lovelock Correctional Center and would like Ms. Crawford to compare the disciplinary statistics at Lovelock with those of other facilities.  Ms. Crawford said the data collected definitely reflect that disciplinary write-ups are reduced significantly when inmates are provided with positive discipline and positive direction; there was an approximately 40 percent drop in disciplinary write-ups, she stated.  Additionally, officers involved will attest to feeling at the end of a day that they have spent a productive day and not a day of boredom.

 

Ms. Crawford described Project Reach, a program that will utilize Welfare‑to‑Work funds to prepare 70 to 100 inmates for reentry into society; the participants are expected to begin taking care of financial responsibilities, such as child support, after they have finished the program.  She said it is a relatively new concept and her understanding is that Nevada is the first state to use Welfare-to-Work funds this way.  “It is a true partnership,” she said.

 

Senate Chairman James commented that he has been meeting with business people in Las Vegas and has found “fairly prominent” people who are willing to hire ex-convicts.  He asked what is being done to let business people know about these programs.  Ms. Crawford said the department plans to design a Web page and conduct job fairs, things that have been done successfully in other states.

 

Ms. Crawford said that once a system for offender management is established, as requested in S.B. 193, the State of Nevada would be able to compete more aggressively for grant money.  The assistant director for offender management, in addition to coordinating, administering, and planning statewide offender programming, will develop funding resources through grant-writing and the building of public and private partnerships, she said.

Senate Chairman James said he was truly impressed with the program at the Lovelock Correctional Center and hopes legislators can help.  With Truth in Sentencing, criminals who commit the worst offenses are taken out of society for the longest period of time, and that is the best way to address crime.  “But . . . with the people who are going to get out, we are going to have a better chance with them [utilizing the approach discussed here],” he said.

 

Assemblywoman McClain recommended that the programs in the High Desert State Prison be implemented in the Nevada Women’s Correctional Facility, because she suspects women in prison need help to “get their lives back together.”

 

Assemblyman Nolan asked how discussions regarding construction trade skills are progressing and whether such a program is actively being pursued.  Ms. Crawford said the Department of Prisons is aggressively pursuing that, and she offered the example of Pioche, where a new schoolhouse was built with inmate labor through the Nevada Division of Forestry.

 

Assemblyman Anderson inquired about certain materials on a CD-ROM promised to his committee.  Glen Whorton, Chief, Classification/Planning, Department of Prisons, explained that there have been some staff and technology breakdowns preventing them from providing the information, but the material would be forthcoming when the problems are solved.

 

Senate Chairman James pointed out that a fiscal note needs to be prepared for S.B. 193 before the bill can be acted upon in the Senate.  And S.B. 76, Senator Mark E. Amodei’s bill dealing with the training of correctional officers, was an important related measure and has a fiscal note attached, he stated.  He said that before the committee acts on S.B. 193 he would like to see the fiscal note on it and address the training bill, S.B. 76.

 

SENATE BILL 76:  Requires correctional officers employed by department of prisons to complete program for facility training.  (BDR 16-796)

 

Ms. Crawford insisted that the fiscal impact of S.B. 193 is ”almost nonexistent.”  She said the position of mental health director with the Department of Prisons is now vacant and can evolve into the position of assistant director; the scope can be broadened to include both programs and treatment, rather than mental health specifically.

 

Senate Chairman James said he would like Ms. Crawford to research the matter, because there are requirements in the law that certain offenders have mental health treatment, and the position cannot be eliminated as long as that requirement is in place.  Additionally, offenders who are deemed mentally ill by the court or through presentence evaluation must be segregated, observed, and treated within the prison system, he said, and “if we need to have other legislation, then we need to find such an amendment to deal with that.”  Ms. Crawford said the Department of Prisons does currently have two psychiatrists on staff, and the vacant position is an administrative component.  She asked Dr. Ted D’Amico, Medical Director, Department of Prisons, to explain the current organization.

 

Dr. D’Amico stated that the Department of Prisons currently has approximately 9 psychiatrists, 30 to 35 psychologists, and approximately 40 psychiatric nurses.  He said all the tools are in place to provide the constitutional care to which Chairman James referred.  When the department lost the mental health director, it looked at streamlining the system, he said, and the mental health program was regionalized, with two mental health directors, one in the north and one in the south.  Both psychiatrists are board certified and very capable in an administrative role as well, he said.  He said the arrangement is working very well and the position of mental health director is no longer necessary for administration of the program.

 

Dr. D’Amico continued, saying the mental health workers have an intricate role to play in the prison programs, and by better utilizing manpower they can provide the constitutional care, while developing the new programs.  He said the position of mental health director would be better utilized if replaced with an administrative position for directing the programs.

 

Jane Foraker-Thompson, Lobbyist, Religious Alliance in Nevada (RAIN), professional criminologist for 24 years, and former professor of criminal justice, stated that what Ms. Crawford had proposed will bring the Nevada Department of Prisons “on board with the rest of the national standards of our country.”  The programs raise staff morale and lower turnover.  She said she was present during the riot of 1981 at New Mexico State Prison and prepared a paper on the causes of the riot.  Prisoners and prisons get into trouble when there are not enough programs to keep them busy.  When the inmates are not productive they start preying on each other and the staff for entertainment purposes, she said.

 

Ms. Foraker-Thompson said she now goes into the prisons as a pastor and sees them from the inside in a way few people do.  She said the feedback for the proposed changes is positive, but warned that the director will be faced with opposition from the old guard, who may try to undermine her attempts at improvement.

 

James F. Kelly, Chaplain, Northern Nevada Correctional Center, spoke in support of S.B. 193.  He said that offenders are essentially simply being warehoused unless they are provided with tools for improving their lives.  Most offenders come with little or no training in life skills, but with negative value systems that make them dangerous both inside the prison and outside, he said.  “We must provide the tools to those who are motivated to improve their lives,” he advised.  Mr. Kelly said he has a particular interest in the chaplaincy program, “And the only reason a released inmate has for not coming back to prison, not continuing his life of crime, is not that he is afraid of prison . . . but if he leaves us with a value system of what is right and wrong and he cares about his own life and that of his family, then we have a better chance of accomplishing anything.”

 

Addressing Senator Washington’s concern, Mr. Kelly said he has been trying lately to get ministers and volunteers of color to come into the prisons, but few are available.  He added that he would be preparing a paper informing the committee about the system for books and magazines.  He said that everything is allowed in that is not detrimental to the security or safety of the institution.

 

Mark LeCoque, Director, Education for Prison Programs, Lovelock Correctional Center, described, through a slide program (Exhibit E), how classrooms at Coal Canyon High School, Pershing County School District, are utilized by the correctional center.  General programs such as mathematics and English as a Second Language (ESL) are taught as well as vocational programs, most of which are self-supporting.  He claimed that the recidivism rate drops to 20 percent for inmates with a high school diploma.  Mr. LeCoque provided the committee with statistics complementing Ms. Crawford’s presentation, as well as copies of letters from inmates who had been released to the community and obtained jobs (Exhibit F).  Chairman James asked Mr. LeCoque to give him and Assemblyman Anderson the data on recidivism for distribution to their committees, and Mr. LeCoque agreed to do so.

 

Chairman James said S.B. 193 would be brought up again in the Senate Committee on Judiciary and people who did not have an opportunity to speak today will be able to do so at that meeting.  There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

 

Carolyn Allfree,

Committee Secretary

 

 

APPROVED BY:

 

 

 

________________________________________________

Senator Mark A. James, Chairman

 

 

DATE:__________________________________________

 

 

 

________________________________________________

Assemblyman Bernard (Bernie) Anderson, Chairman

 

 

DATE:__________________________________________