What is the scope of crime and incarceration in Nevada? Is the state succeeding in improving its criminal justice programs? How many people are incarcerated, and how does the state improve its inmate rehabilitation programs? This article briefly summarizes crime and justice in Nevada.

• How many people are incarcerated in prisons in Nevada?
• Does Nevada utilize alternatives to incarceration?
• What are the biggest prisons in Nevada?
• What is Nevada’s crime rate?

Answering these questions provides quick insight into the scope of crime, incarceration, and prison policy in Nevada.

According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Nevada has the 17th highest incarceration rate in the country, ahead of Wyoming but just behind Montana. Nevada incarcerates 361 people for every 100,000 living in the state. Nevada’s incarceration rate is very close to the national incarceration rate of 358 per 100,000.¹

Data published by the National Institute of Corrections in 2019 shows Nevada has 20 jails in 17 counties. The jail population (usually comprised of indicted individuals awaiting trial or convicted individuals serving short sentences) was 8,440 as of 2019. Nevada also has seven state prisons and 9 Conservation Camps, which hold a combined prison population of 12,840. Nevada’s Community Corrections program has 16,247 individuals under probation and 7,647 under parole.²

Nevada’s Department of Corrections operates with a staff of 2,647 and an annual budget of $297,804,430. According to the Urban Policy Institute, Nevada’s Department of Corrections is the seventh costliest item on the state’s annual budget.³

According to the Sentencing Project, Nevada has reduced the percentage of its prisoners held in private prisons by 80%. As of 2019 data, 100 prisoners are held in the custody of private prisons, with current plans on the books to ban private prisons in the coming years. Currently, there are no federal prisons in Nevada.⁴

High Desert State Prison, Nevada. Image courtesy of doc.nv.gov

The High Desert State Prison is the largest incarceration institution in Nevada’s Department of Corrections. The complex is approximately 1,576,000 square feet and can house up to 4,175 inmates.⁵

Statistical data on recidivism is one of the most important metrics by which to analyze a state’s criminal justice system. While Nevada’s recidivism rate is slightly lower than the national average, it has unfortunately been climbing. For example, Nevada recorded a 20% recidivism rate in 2010, meaning one in five formerly incarcerated individuals would re-offend and return to prison. Today, Nevada’s recidivism rate is closer to one in three, meaning 33% of formerly incarcerated individuals commit offenses post-release and become incarcerated again.⁷

In short, the criminal justice system in Nevada is not working for about one-third of those who go through it.

Criminal rehabilitation in Nevada is crucial to helping offenders overcome the underlying issues that led them to crime. Criminal reform in Nevada should seek to help offenders become productive and contributing members of society, to become individuals who do not feel compelled to commit crimes just to get by in life.

Nevada’s prison population has declined 25% since 2019, but recidivism is up. That means fewer Nevadans are committing first-time offenses, but formerly incarcerated individuals are more likely to offend and become re-incarcerated. That means the state’s crime prevention efforts are bearing fruit, but Nevada must improve its existing criminal rehabilitation methodology to include programs like:⁸

• Drug and alcohol programs for incarcerated individuals who struggle with addiction
• Life skills programs to teach inmates how to lead productive lives without resorting to crime
• Vocational programs and work-release programs to help offenders develop meaningful employment skills
• Alternatives to incarceration in Nevada

Alternatives to prison in Nevada are also immensely important and should be expanded. Currently, the criminal justice system in Nevada offers alternatives to incarceration like:

• Pre-trial diversion
• Non-adjudicated probation
• A suspended sentence or a split sentence
• Drug court for nonviolent drug possession offenses
• A regimented discipline program, including community service
• Restitution programs for payment of substantial fines and other fees
• Post-release supervision (supervision after a prison incarceration period)
• House arrest, electronic monitoring, or an intensive, guided supervision program

Looking to the future, policymakers should implement educational programs inside prisons in Nevada and rehabilitation programs inside prisons in Nevada. Only by offering a range of rehabilitative and educational services will Nevada truly reform its offenders, reduce recidivism, and improve public safety.