Nye County Sheriff’s Office set to use ankle monitors to relieve jail crowding

The Nye County Sheriff’s Office is set to relieve crowding in its detention center with the use of an ankle monitoring system. On Feb. 4 the Nye County Commission gave the go-ahead to a monitoring and services agreement with Illinois-based company Track Group Inc.

“The purpose of this… is, it allows the sheriff to institute a program to alleviate crowding in the jail, to allow people who are in jail to have the opportunity to go home on an ankle monitoring, and give the justice system some peace of mind that they are being watched without keeping them incarcerated,” Nye County Sheriff’s Office Captain David Boruchowitz told the commission on Feb. 4.

“The proposal in front of you is to utilize this company to provide that equipment to us and to do the monitoring for us and then those fees and the revenue we’ve requested would then augment the jail budget for the jail staff that would be utilized to run this program,” Boruchowitz continued.

Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly added, “We felt that, after listening to your requests to find other ways to remove people from our jail but yet keep them basically incarcerated, we came up with this program. It seems to fit the bill.”

The request for approval of the services contract met with enthusiasm from several commissioners, including Donna Cox, who stated, “It’s one of the best things I have heard since I have been sitting up here that is connected with your department.”

Nye County Commissioner Leo Blundo remarked that he too was quite pleased with the proposal.

“One of the things I appreciated reading in the backup was, you have people who have their difficulties or pitfalls but they have employment, they have jobs, and this allows them to not have that break up,” Blundo commented. “They can still keep their employment, still be a part of the community and get rehabilitation, get back into the community. That’s really important here. This is another option, another tool at the sheriff’s office’s disposal. Thank you for bringing it forward, it’s a solution.”

Pahrump Justice of the Peace Kent Jasperson spoke in favor of the ankle monitoring system as well, telling the board, “When David came to me with this and we first discussed it, I was on board with it from the beginning… I think it will benefit both the sheriff’s office and the court system as well… not having to put everybody in jail, because not everybody needs to be in jail.”

The motion to approve the monitoring and services agreement and associated pricing schedule passed 5-0.

Another agenda item related to the ankle monitors is set to be heard at the commission’s next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19.

That agenda item requests approval of the fees to be charged to the inmates for use of the ankle monitoring systems. The proposed fees include an equipment deposit of $100, a hook-up fee of $50 and a $10 per day charge. Additionally, the proposal calls for a fee of $1,400 for damage done to a device as well as a $200 fee for damage done to the device charger.

To view the pricing schedule, the monitoring and services agreement or the proposed fee schedule visit www.nyecounty.net. Those documents can be found under the Feb. 4 and Feb. 19 Nye County Commission agendas.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com