Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The action by the state Board of Examiners, headed by Gov. Bob Miller, must be ratified by state lawmakers who will have final say on an appropriation to cover the cost of the contract with Dominion Management Inc.
Under the arrangement, up to 300 convicts - 4 percent of Nevada's inmate population - could be sent to Dominion's prison if that's needed to help relieve prison overcrowding.
Prison officials said the total number may not be reached, however, because various expansion projects within the state's system will create more space.
State lawmakers are now considering a $273.2 million plan for operation of Nevada's prisons in the coming two years. That's 13 percent less than what the system requested.
Gov. Miller wants a new $90.5 million men's correctional facility in Indian Springs that will hold 1,500 beds in the Phase I design and will ultimately hold 3,000 beds.
The governor also recommended spending $17 million to house women prisoners in Nevada's first privatized correctional facility. The money will help open the 500-bed Southern Nevada Women's Prison in Las Vegas.
He also wants an $8.2 million expansion and conversion of the existing women's prison to a male facility.
Also proposed was a $5 million expansion of the Lovelock Correctional Center; and a $5.9 million expansion of a prison camp in Jean.
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