All told, there are nearly 9,500 inmates in Nevada prisons. More than three-quarters of the women are in southern Nevada, including 507 at a privately run prison near Las Vegas and 164 at the Jean Conservation Camp. The rest are in northern Nevada, at the Silver Springs Conservation Camp and the Northern Nevada Correctional Center. It's a good idea to keep the population geographically close to their family and support units.
Children are a first priority.
You can't separate a family like that,'' said Assemblyman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas. We don't want to ruin that progress,'' she said, referring to problems in the mid-90's when prison conditions were so poor that inmates had to use coffee cans instead of toilets. Several panel members also were concerned about inmates with substance abuse problems being locked up with inmates doing time for violent crimes, and asked about the status of a program aimed at getting the nonviolent offenders into house arrest and rehabilitation programs. Officials said the program was stalled, but they might look into it again as a way to reduce overcrowding in prisons. Materials contained within this site may not be used without permission.