Nevada governor pushes for more paroles to ease prison crowding

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval is pursuing creative solutions to a potential prison overcrowding problem that could push the system beyond capacity by the end of the next budget, reported the Las Vegas Review Journal.

“Our goal is to not construct a new prison,” Mike Willden, chief of staff to Sandoval, said in a budget briefing last week.

Sandoval’s solution rests primarily with the Division of Parole and Probation and the Parole Commission, which will be given new resources to speed up parole for eligible inmates. 

“We are counting on parole to do that,” Willden said.

Accountability measures will be established to ensure the goal can be met, he said.

Sandoval’s budget expects to see the state’s inmate population increase by 902 over the next two years, serving an average inmate population of 14,006 in fiscal year 2018 and 14,247 in fiscal 2019. This year the average population is 13,345.

The pace of paroles in Nevada are a concern for Sandoval, who questioned the reasons for delays at a November meeting of the Nevada Board of Prison Commissioners.

Minutes of that meeting indicate that Nevada has the fewest parole releases to the community per-inmate population in the country.

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