By Daniel R.C. DeLuca

CARSON CITY, NV– For the last decade, crime has been steadily decreasing every year; and yet, Nevada’s prisons are becoming so overcrowded, 200 of our most violent inmates had to be sent to Arizona last October for lack of bed space. One option to reduce incarceration rates is the use of parole, which will become the leading issue concerning public safety during the 2019 governor’s election.

Apart from having to decide exactly how to extend parole, under what conditions it will utilized, and which inmates will receive an early release, the next governor will have to deal with a nearly total blank slate on the Nevada Board of Parole. Chairwoman Connie Bisbee, who is retiring within the next two years, mentioned in a statement to the Administration of Justice that the majority of her colleagues would be moving on during the same time frame, leaving the new governor with a board of fresh commissioners.

In the same statement, Chairwoman Bisbee clarified the potential for disaster to our corrections system, informing that new commissioners “do not grant [parole] at the rate experienced commissioners do.”

Notable candidates for Nevada’s governor currently include Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak (D), Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani (D), Nevada State Treasurer Dan Swartz (R), and Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R).