Poll: Nevadans back prisons, more help for meth addicts
RENO -- Most Nevadans favor building new prisons to address overcrowding and greater law enforcement over prevention and treatment programs to deal with methamphetamine addiction, according to a new poll.
The poll, conducted by Research 2000 for the Reno Gazette-Journal, asked 600 likely voters across the state a list of questions. The margin of error was 4 percentage points.
About 49 percent of respondents said they supported building new prisons, while 38 percent supported changes in the law to allow some inmates to get out earlier.
The Department of Corrections has said more than 13,000 inmates are crammed into prison cells, gyms and hallways, and experts project the inmate population will top 21,000 by 2016.
The department is seeking about $300 million for capital improvements in the next two years, and Gov. Jim Gibbons has proposed spending $1.9 billion by 2015 for four new prisons, five new conservation camps and nine housing units.
To save money, state legislators are considering a list of bills that would reduce the amount of time inmates spend incarcerated, but many of those responding to the poll opposed that idea.
Assemblywoman Valerie Weber, R-Las Vegas, a member of the Assembly Select Committee on Corrections, Parole and Probation, which has been tackling the overcrowding problem, said the state needs a "multi-prong" approach, not just one answer.
Besides deporting any inmates who were in Nevada illegally when they committed their crimes, Weber said the state needs "prevention strategies" to keep people out of the system in the first place.
The state also needs more community after-care programs to keep recidivism down, she said, and stronger re-entry programs.
On methamphetamine addiction, most of those polled favored greater support for law enforcement.
More than 40,000 people in Nevada use the drug, but the state only has 445 treatment beds, experts have said.
But 38 percent of those polled favored boosting law enforcement efforts, while 31 percent said money should go to prevention measures and 26 percent supported more funds for treatment.
