State board approves $1.6M for Nevada Corrections Department
CARSON CITY — A state board Tuesday approved $1.6 million in funding and contracts sought by the Nevada Corrections Department to cover a deficit in inmate medical costs, staff a unit at a Southern Nevada women’s prison and certify kosher meals for inmates on religious diets.
The Board of Examiners, chaired by Gov. Brian Sandoval, approved the spending at a meeting in Carson City. Attorney General Adam Laxalt and Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske also serve on the board.
Funding for additional staffing at Florence McClure Women’s Correction Center and prison medical costs go to the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee for final approval.
Florence McClure has seen a big jump in its inmate population, rising to 955 from 781 three years ago. The facility has empty housing units to handle overcrowding, but no staff to man them, prison officials said. One unit has been opened to house 50 inmates but is being staffed by correctional officers on overtime.
The $542,287 from the Legislature’s contingency fund will allow the hiring of full-time staff for the unit, and open up another 48 beds, Corrections Deputy Director Scott Sisco told the board. New hires will not be trained and in place until October, meaning the facility will to be staffed with overtime until then.
The board approved $708,645 to cover a deficit in the inmate medical budget through June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
Sisco said the budget was funded at $1,052 per inmate over the biennium, but Nevada’s inmate population is at 689 over earlier projections. He added the deficit was fueled by escalating costs to treat inmates with HIV, hepatitis and in need of dialysis.
The board without comment also approved a $393,824, four-year contract with Denver-based Scroll K. Vaad Hakashrus to certify kosher food for inmates of Jewish and other faiths who have strict dietary and food preparation requirements.
Nevada has used the nonprofit rabbinical organization since 2013 to implement kosher kitchens and oversee procedures following a federal court lawsuit filed in 2011.
The new contract runs through June 30, 2020.
Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3821. Find @SandraChereb on Twitter.
