Corrections officers ask chief to resign, citing risk, morale
CARSON CITY -- Nevada correctional officers affiliated with a local labor union asked Tuesday for Corrections Department Director Howard Skolnik to resign, citing risk to officers due to poor management by some of his administrators.
"We are here to tell you today that it is our belief that NDOC is in need for a complete shake-up of their administrative staff," union officials said in an announcement. "Under the direction of Director Skolnik and other administrators, a majority of NDOC employees' morale is at an all time low."
At a news conference attended by about 25 officers, Dennis Mallory, chief of staff of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employes Union Local 4041, said the union is asking for a grand jury investigation into Skolnik's actions as director.
Many of the concerns revolve around the state budget shortfall and the need for cuts at the department in the upcoming budget.
They include inadequate staffing levels being maintained at some institutions, resulting in excessive overtime and the push to close the Nevada State Prison that would result in the layoff of more than 100 officers, he said.
But the union is also claiming that correctional officers who are members of the union have been retaliated against by agency management as a result of standing up to bad policies, unfair investigations and for speaking out about matters of public concern.
"After speaking with several of our members, it has become clear to me that we have no choice but to ask Director Skolnik to resign his post with NDOC," Mallory said.
Skolnik was given a vote of confidence by Gov. Jim Gibbons. Gibbons spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said the governor has "full faith in Howard Skolnik and his ability to effectively manage the Nevada Department of Corrections."
"I know he focuses on the safety of correctional officers with every decision he makes in dealing with the state budget crisis," Kieckhefer said. "The governor has no intention of asking Howard to resign."
Skolnik said he does listen to correctional officers and their concerns, but he does not always agree with their views on what should be done. He acknowledged that he is maintaining vacancies in the department because of the requirement from Gibbons to cut the agency budget by 14 percent for the next two years.
That will lessen the need for layoffs if the Legislature concurs with a proposal to close the antiquated Nevada State Prison, Skolnik said.
Members of the Board of Prison Commissioners also voiced concerns about budget reductions and their effect on staff and inmate safety at its meeting to review the agency's budget cutting proposals.
The correctional officers and their union officials voiced their same concerns to the panel, which includes Gibbons, Secretary of State Ross Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto. Gibbons was in Washington, D.C., and did not participate.
"There are clearly public safety concerns and I don't think it's an issue the public is generally aware of," Miller said. "We are going to need to see the director step up and assume a strong role in resolving some of these issues."
Masto questioned Skolnik about how far the agency can go in making cuts, given the staffing shortages and other budget concerns that already exist in the department.
"At some point in time there is a breaking point," she said.
Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty, reporting to the board on the findings of a panel looking at reforms to the operation of the department and the criminal justice system, told the commission that the 14 percent budget cut is coming on top of funding levels that are already inadequate.
Problems with excessive overtime costs, the medical care provided to inmates and a host of other problems that exist now in the prison system will only be exacerbated by further cuts, he said.
Masto asked Skolnik at what point would he buck Gibbons and sound the alarm that further cuts would endanger inmates and staff.
Skolnik said he could not cut beyond the 14 percent sought for the 2009-11 budget.
"I believe we can absorb the 14 percent and maintain a safe and secure environment," he said. "I do not believe we can do much beyond that."
HOW INMATES GOT ACORN JOBS BEING PROBED A state prisons employee was under internal investigation for failing to notice that 59 halfway house inmates got jobs registering voters, the prisons director said Tuesday. By working for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, the inmates were violating a state law that bars them from having access to the personal information of anyone who isn't incarcerated, Department of Corrections Director Howard Skolnik told the state prisons board. Prisons officials thought the inmates were employed as surveyors, he said. The investigation was focused on whether the employee followed procedures to verify the work the inmates were doing, he said. "We were remiss," Skolnik told board members Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller, who is heading an investigation into possible voter registration fraud by ACORN employees. A Department of Corrections contractor, Choices Group Inc., coordinates employment and job training for inmates at the halfway house. Choices Group is required to notify prisons officials about the type of work inmates will be doing, Skolnik said. A woman who answered the phone at Choices Group's Las Vegas office immediately hung up when contacted Tuesday by the Review-Journal. When prisons officials learned of the inmates' work for ACORN on July 31, they immediately removed them from the job and started the internal investigation, Skolnik said. Of the 59 inmates who worked for ACORN, one had been fired for failing to meet a registration quota, but none had been fired for fraud, he said. The investigation of ACORN centers on whether employees filled out voter registration forms with false or copied names. The inmates included one man who was convicted of an identity theft crime, but "there was no evidence he exercised his skills in this," Skolnik said. Neither was there any evidence that inmates illegally filled out any registration forms. "Our inmates have indicated they didn't do anything wrong," Skolnik said. If an inmate did anything illegal, he could face administrative charges and lose good-time credits on top of any new criminal charges, he said. "They've got the most to lose." BRIAN HAYNES, REVIEW-JOURNAL
