Deputies cope with aging facility, inmates' needs

It's close to 9 p.m. in the inmates' library at the Douglas County Jail and Tonya Solak is talking a mile a minute.

She's trying to explain to a half a dozen women the "unintended consequences" of the drug use which has lead to her latest incarceration.

It's a new concept for Solak as she struggles to take responsibility for her actions.

"I'm 32 years old. I've got a 15-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son and no teeth left to lose," she said. "When my name was in the newspaper for a drug arrest that I had nothing to do with, nobody would send their kids to my son's birthday party. It really hurt.

"I've got six months," she said, barely catching a breath. "I'm going to try to make the most of it. I am going to try to quit cussing."

Solak was one of 13 female inmates participating in a six-week pilot program on addiction.

The women met every Thursday night for about an hour with jail psychologist Dr. Joseph McEllistrem and drug and alcohol counselor Cindi Swalm to watch an episode of the HBO series "Addiction" and talk about how it meshed with their lives.

Jail Sgt. Bernadette Smith came up with the idea for the program after she put up poster in the jail outlining the dangers of drugs.

"Somebody scrawled, 'And what are you doing for these women?' on it," Smith said. "That got me thinking, and I went to Capt. (John) Milby for authorization and here we are."

It's been nearly one year since Milby was assigned as jail captain.

"It's been a very profound experience for me," he said. "Being a jail sergeant was the hardest work I've ever done. Working in the jail is often seen as a less glamorous assignment, but we try to instill in our deputies that we're the primary reason for the sheriff's office."

Since his appointment last August, Milby supervised installation of the first new computer system in more than 15 years, dealt with overcrowding and worked to implement programs like the women's addiction support group.

He said the jail provides three functions: Protecting the community by incarcerating offenders, protecting the inmates from each other and providing prisoners a constitutional level of care.

"We have a tradition of treating inmates like human beings," Milby said. "I routinely get letters from former inmates thanking a particular deputy for their courtesy."

Milby oversees a staff of five sergeants and 26 deputies, below the recommended Department of Justice average of six sergeants and 34 deputies.

"Ten years ago, we were at three sergeants and 21 deputies. We're slowly inching toward the Department of Justice goal to keep pace with the growth," he said.

"We do have a handful of officers who have opted to serve their entire careers in the jail," Milby said. "It's just essential to have that consistent core team of officers who know every aspect of the jail."

The sergeants include Smith, Will Lynch, Robert Duffy, Dave Tubridy and Dave Brown.

"It's a great team," Milby said. "It's very rewarding to work with the sergeants and deputies I have. It enriches my job."

Aging facility

The 25-year-old jail is overcrowded - sometimes a few inmates sleep on mattresses on the floor - but Milby points with pride to the fact the jail is the only one in Nevada accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

"We're constantly at or over operational capacity," he said. "We're kind of holding our breath. We're really feeling the overcrowding all year round."

The Minden jail has cell space for 96 inmates in the regular population, while the Stateline jail can accommodate 15.

Prisoners who are sick or disruptive must be separated.

Milby said the female population is keeping up with the rest of the nation as the fastest growing class of offenders.

"We only have 16 female beds and we're almost always over capacity," he said.

Occasionally, the sheriff's office asks District Court for the early release of low-level offenders particularly among the female population.

"We can petition the court if the inmate has served at least 75 percent of her sentence and is deemed not to be a risk to the community," Milby said.

When Milby walks through the jail, he monitors three criteria: Is the jail safe, quiet and clean?

"Sometimes I go back there and I find out the jail has a fresh coat of paint, the floors are waxed. It's important to maintain quality," Milby said.

Last year, voters defeated a .5 percent sales tax increase which would have raised $5 million a year for law enforcement including the jail which sent officials back to the drawing board for expansion plans.

"We're still looking at concept designs for an expansion of the existing jail and construction of an entirely new jail," he said.

He said the traditional linear jail design - long hallways of cells - dates to the 18th century

"Officers can't see the inmates," he said.

Douglas deputies monitor jail activities from a bank of video screens in a control room. Each prisoner wears a red wristband with a bar code that can be scanned to track prisoners' movements.

New design concepts include a direct supervision facility where the officer is in the jail block, or a podular remote, where two or three officers are in a hub with the cell blocks off the hub.

"From a fixed point, the officer sees all the inmates," he said.

With either model, the jail requires fewer officers.

"Our big concern is expansion of our existing jail," Milby said. "It would require a significant increase in staff."

As an example of costs, Milby cited statistics that show estimates for a new facility range from $40,000 per cell in Atlanta to $90,000 per cell in Los Angeles.

"With the cost of concrete still going up, I shudder to think it might be by the time we might be considering it," Milby said.

Daily routine

The inmate's day begins at with a 5 a.m. intercom wakeup. Prisoners have 45 minutes to clean their cells before they are served breakfast in each cell block's day room.

"I think we have the best food in the state," Milby said.

The kitchen is run by Andrea Lombard who is assisted by jail trusties - prisoners who have earned the privilege with good behavior.

Inmate programs include 12-step meetings for alcohol and drug addiction, opportunities to earn the general equivalency diploma for inmates who haven't finished high school, and sessions with jail psychologist McEllistrem, as well as medical care.

Inmates also may attend religious services and receive visits from a team of jail chaplains of different religious denominations.

Visitors are scheduled all-day Saturday and Sunday.

"We used to allow visits during the week, but with inmates' court appearances, doctors' appointments, visits from their attorneys, schedules got too crowded," Milby said.

Inmates get one hour a day in the outdoor exercise yard. The facility is nonsmoking which causes complications for some inmates undergoing withdrawal from drugs or alcohol as a result of incarceration.

Offenders are classified by current charges, criminal history and social history - whether they are gang members or substances abusers.

"For example, you can't house a homicide suspect with someone jailed for their first DUI," Milby said.

While the jail staff includes several veteran deputies, it is also an entry-level assignment for new officers.

"The jail is a controlled environment," Milby said. "A new deputy generally has a supervisor right there."

Douglas is following the national trend of jails filling up with inmates charged with drug- and alcohol-related offenses and increasing numbers of domestic battery cases.

"More than half the inmates of some form of mental illness," Milby said. "It's a huge issue in our jail."

All personnel receive suicide prevention training. A few years ago, there were two suicides and the death of a third prisoner in a matter of months.

"Everybody brought in receives a mental health assessment first thing," he said.

Not only are inmates legally entitled to protection of their civil rights, Milby insists on it.

"If you treat them coldly, or act like you're above them, some day you'll see them out on patrol or run into them and may need to rely on them," he said. "This is a small community. You'll run into them at Raley's, or see them at the post office. If you treat them well, you don't have to worry about it."