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Imprisoned illegal migrants to be deported
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted: 4/11/2007

More than 200 illegal immigrant inmates in Nevada's prison system will be turned over to federal immigration officials for deportation within two months.

Nevada's Parole Board, the state Pardons Board chaired by Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Department of Corrections are working on the project to identify inmates they believe can be released to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

"We're just trying to free up some prison beds," Parole Commission Chairwoman Dorla Salling said.

David Smith, management analyst for the Parole Board, said most of the inmates on the list are Mexican nationals, but none is serving time for violent or sex offenses.

"Most of them are first offenders, in for property or drug crimes," he said. "We think they're good candidates to be deported."

Smith said violent crime felons and sex offenders won't be in the group because "we don't think we need to be creating a danger in those other countries." He also said INS has agreed to take the inmates into federal custody for deportation.

The idea was suggested by Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty of Reno as one method of reducing overcrowding in Nevada's prisons.

Prison officials said deporting the inmates could save the state more than $4 million in a year.

Smith said the plan involves two groups of inmates. The first consists of 49 inmates already paroled by the board but still in prison because they haven't yet served their minimum sentences.

The Pardons Board meets April 25 to vote on commuting the sentences of those inmates, so that they can be immediately released to INS.

An additional 180 inmates aren't eligible yet for parole hearings. Smith said the Parole Board will meet May 2-4 to review their cases.

Prison bed space is one of the biggest issues facing the 2007 Legislature. The inmate population is nearly 1,000 more than what was projected and budgeted for two years ago.

As a result, the prison system is faced with $60 million in costs to install modular units in existing prisons as soon as possible.

In addition, prison officials say they need nearly $300 million in construction for the next two years to house more beds. Construction estimates for the next decade total $1.9 billion.