Unwelcome project

Feasibility study would be next step in building facility

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Whitney town officials do not want a jail in their community. At all.

It doesn't matter to them that, if funded by Clark County, it would be constructed on the far eastern portion of the county's sanitation district acreage, in Clark County Desert Wetlands Park, east of Hollywood Boulevard, or that it will be across the Las Vegas Wash wetlands from residential areas.

Mikel Holt, deputy chief of detention services for the county, said on Feb. 8 that the need for more jail beds is acute and the land would be free. He also said if the facility were to be located in a more remote area, transportation costs would cancel out any savings and eventually add to expenses for the county.

Rumors have spread among some town and county officials that Holt will next bring forward a request for a study of a 1,000-bed facility, and Holt said that if the money were available, he'd be ready to put up something even larger than that. He added that it has not yet been decided what sort of facility might be located at the site.

The topic was scheduled to be addressed by the Clark County Commission several months ago, but was removed from the meeting agenda, and has not been rescheduled for consideration.

"All we had agenda-ed was a feasibility study for the building of a 400-bed facility," Holt said. "Right now, we don't even have it on an agenda."

Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, said he had been told originally that a temporary 400-bed facility was to be put on the table, but more recently that a 1,000-bed jail is planned.

"They keep changing their story," said Manendo, whose district includes Whitney.

Holt said he has learned that the facility will have to meet all the appropriate building codes, which nullified the idea of a temporary jail. He said a feasibility study will determine the type of construction and actual costs.

"They could be modular steel buildings," he said. "The nice thing about those is that, worst case, they can be moved."

In response to the idea, the Whitney and Sunrise Manor town advisory boards have voted in opposition to the incarceration facility, said Manendo, who is spearheading a petition drive to amass signatures from individuals who feel similarly.

Manendo and Whitney Town Advisory Board members Raymond Joe, Vice Chairman Gerry Petuya and Chairman George Beyea met on Feb. 10 at the park headquarters of the Las Vegas Wash wetlands to outline their objections.

Petuya said an organized petition-signing was being planned for Boulder Plaza, at the intersection of Boulder Highway and Tropicana Avenue. Additionally, the Southeast Valley Coalition has its own petition drive in progress and is as opposed to the plan as the Whitney board, according to Beyea.

"We're not going to tolerate it," he said.

"We can't," said Petuya. "Let 'em have it, George. This really has me riled up."

Manendo said the issue has been brought up at seven or more community meetings recently, and the responses have been consistent: "I have not heard one person say he's for it."

Holt admitted that while the misdemeanors for which inmates were found guilty would involve relatively minor crimes, many charges would have been pled down from more serious crimes, such as assault and domestic violence assault.

Holt said he would likely need a new 2,000-bed facility by 2010. The county is lodging 3,324 inmates, or far more than the available 2,850 beds inside the downtown Las Vegas facility. Of the remainder, Holt said, 209 inmates sleep on cots, 137 have been kept in the booking facility for temporary housing, and even more are housed elsewhere throughout the area.

"I rent up to 300 beds in the community a day, and today I have 278 beds rented. This is actually low," he said.

Holt said it costs the county $103 per day to house an individual at the detention center, and that includes food, bedding, medical care and other costs. The community beds cost the county $70 per day.

He said his impression is that town officials entertain three concerns regarding a new jail.

First, he said, they worry that inmates will be released into the community. In fact, said Holt, "We would bring them back downtown to release them." The only inmates "released" into the community from the jail would be those on work crews that travel to various places to fulfill community service obligations.

Second, Holt said, is the concern that the prison would attract visitors who might not fit into the community. But he said they would be visiting the jail, not hanging out in the surrounding area.

Finally, there is the fear that bringing in inmates will lower property values in the surrounding area. But Holt pointed out that the site is not even on the same side of the Las Vegas Wash as the residential areas town officials are citing.

But lots more residences are on the way, said the Whitney officials, and the jail is less than a mile distant across the wash from some residential areas. Tropicana Palms, probably the closest development, has 532 homes. Slightly farther away, Crescendo at Silver Springs has 285, with another 244 at Sterling at Silver Springs.

The fear of escapees mingling with the area's population was never far below the surface for the board members and Manendo. Cars might be stolen for getaways, they suggested, and worse, there might be run-ins between escaped prisoners and Clark County Wetlands Park visitors.

Holt said flatly that escapes are not an issue.

"We have never had an escape from in custody," he said. "We've never lost one."

Other county officials have pointed out that the misdemeanor inmates would be risking lengthy additions to otherwise short-term sentences by taking off from the jail.

That didn't cut any ice with Manendo and the town board members. The mere possibility of an escape seemed to put them on edge.

With more development of trails at Wetlands Park, and the likely increase in tourists, senior citizens and school groups, said Manendo, even the slim chance that an escapee might encounter visitors should be enough to convince the county to look elsewhere.

Considering the concentration of brush and undergrowth and the availability of vehicles at nearby residences, Manendo said, "If someone has the opportunity to escape, he'll say, 'I've got a great head start.' "

In effect, said Beyea, the improvements in trails planned for the park, and the likelihood of increased use, would amount to improving access for escapees.

"What are they going to put up here?" Manendo said, gesturing around the wetlands center. "Signs that say, 'Don't walk alone?' 'Walk with a guard dog?' A prison is not the best thing across from the wetlands."

"It's not appropriate," said Ray.

"This is our gem," Manendo said of Wetlands Park.

Manendo said he believes several sites should be considered in detail, with the pros and cons considered, before settling on the sanitation district land. He added that he and other local officials would be glad to take part in a location search.