Officials hope to add execution chamber at Nevada prison

By Cy Ryan

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 | 9:50 p.m.

Nevada hasn’t executed a prisoner since 2006 and none are currently scheduled, but the Ely State Prison wants a new $800,000 death chamber.

Greg Cox, director of the state Department of Corrections, said Tuesday it makes sense to have executions take place at Ely, where all death row inmates are housed.

Cox outlined his budget requests to a legislative budget committee Tuesday calling for 100 additional correctional officers and complaining that the federal government has severely cut its funds for housing inmates in the country illegally.

He later told reporters that the execution chamber is needed for security purposes. More than 80 inmates are on death row, but he said no executions are scheduled. Executions were carried out at the now-closed state prison in Carson City, and Cox admitted it could still be used.

Gov. Brian Sandoval included the request in his budget two years ago, but the Legislature rejected it. He again has recommended it.

The governor has also included $7.6 million in his budget to hire 100 additional correctional officers as recommended by a study group of former prison officials. These would be needed to fill the posts of guards when they are on sick leave or on holidays or off for other reasons.

There was a recommendation in 2005-2006 to hire 264 more staff, but no money was allocated, Cox said.

He also told the committee the federal grant to house criminals who had been living in the country illegally has been reduced from $3.4 million a year to $1.3 million.

The prison population is 12,769 inmates and is expected to grow 1 to 2 percent a year. Of that total, 39 percent are incarcerated because of violations of parole or probation.

He told the committee that the Southern Nevada Correctional Center at Jean was still closed, but he called it his “ace in the hole” if the population grows faster than predicted. But it would cost more than $10 million to reopen it due to deterioration and the transfer of equipment to other prisons.

“I don’t want to open another prison,” he said. There are currently seven major prisons, nine conservation camps and two transitional housing centers.