Associated Press
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Democratic lawmakers are abandoning a bid to remove Nevada inmates from private prisons after pushback from corrections officers.
Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno and 18 Democratic co-sponsors are instead seeking to ensure Nevada does not contract with private businesses to operate jails or prisons inside state boundaries.
No private prisons currently exist in Nevada.
But the Department of Corrections has put 46 at-risk Nevada inmates in out-of-state private prisons.
Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed moving an additional 200 inmates to private facilities in other states to ease overcrowding at Southern Desert Correctional Center.
The bill would no longer impede that move.
Monroe-Moreno has said Sandoval and Nevada Prisons Director James Dzurenda contributed to the bill.
The Assembly Corrections, Parole and Probation Committee unanimously accepted the changes and passed Assembly Bill 303 Thursday.