HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT The detention center in use is not a garden spot, but prospects for a new facility still depend on questions of funding. Advertisement

TONOPAH -- It would cost over $1.2 million more per year in personnel costs to staff a new 150-bed jail, Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall told Nye County Commissioners Tuesday.

The county is considering building a new jail on East Mesquite Road to replace the aging Pahrump facility.

Marshall said 10 deputy jail technicians, 25 deputies, five sergeants and two lieutenants would be needed to meet standards set by the National Institute of Corrections, which recommends one officer for each five inmates. That would add up to $1.85 million annually, he said.

The county currently spends $568,000 on its jail personnel, Marshall said.

If the county reduced the number of deputies from 25 to 20 and used one lieutenant, it could reduce annual personnel costs to $1.56 million, which would still be $995,777 more than it's shelling out.

That led Marshall to discuss what he called the "beds for feds" program.

"When we met with the federal government, the U.S. marshals, they said if we have a facility for 500 inmates, they would rent every bed from us," Marshall said. "They anticipate this jail would take 18 months to build. They would still have a need for the beds. They're paying approximately $80 (a day) a bed."

But though that rate would buy a decent hotel room, commissioners had cold feet when they heard the county would have to build the jail.

"The federal government used to have a program to pay for construction cost," Marshall said. "The federal government is spending a lot of money in wars overseas, and that's where that money has gone."

Las Vegas just withdrew from a contract with the U.S. Marshal's Service because they need jail space for their own inmates, Marshall said.

"We could build a jail, but we don't have the resources to fund the jail," he said.

Commissioner Candice Trummell said that until Sheriff Tony DeMeo presents a plan "to more efficiently utilize his resources," the county can't afford to build a new jail it can't staff. It would cost an estimated $15 million to build such a new jail.

The federal government would like at least a 50-bed jail, Marshall said. They would welcome a jail in Pahrump but not in Beatty or Tonopah, which are seen as too far from the Las Vegas area.

Trummell said she was willing to consider a contract with the federal government if it outlined how many beds it wants and how many years it would pay for those beds. Marshall said the federal government would pay to reserve beds regardless of whether they're occupied.

But he added, "They are not going to commit to anything until the facility is built."

Tim Bedwell, public information officer for the North Las Vegas Police Department, said the federal government built an addition onto the city's jail. But he added that they house federal inmates who have already been sentenced and complain that they are treated like regular jail inmates.

Bedwell said additional prisoners always increase the risk of civil liability.

"It isn't a money-maker, that's for sure," Bedwell said.

Trummell was willing to consider a phased construction of 75 to 80 beds, see if the county can get funding from the federal government, then possibly add more. But she noted a report that says housing federal prisoners doesn't pay for itself.

While the federal government is in a desperate quest for space, Marshall said they'd rather rent out facilities.

"Why would we want this extra liability in this county if it wasn't going to pay?" Commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver asked. "It seems to me that when the jail was built here, it was built with the thought in mind that the jail could be expanded."

Commissioner Patricia Cox talked about possibly renovating the old jail and adding a few beds.

"My understanding, we're lucky we're not being sued," Marshall said.

Commissioner Gary Hollis, who said he was one of the first deputies at the Pahrump jail, said the original intent was to be able to expand it to the north.

"If we're going to build a $15 million jail and we can't staff it, we're beating our heads against a brick wall," Hollis said.

From "beds to feds," talk turned to the "pay to stay" program, in which inmates have to pay for their accommodations behind bars. Marshall said the program has raised only about $77,000 over the past two years, which Commissioner Joni Eastley called "drops in the bucket" compared to funds needed for construction.

Eastley quipped, "Or we could start a program, 'Adopt a Prisoner.'"