Nevada board commutes sentences of 8 illegal immigrants

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Over objections of the state attorney general, the Nevada Pardons Board has commuted drug-crime sentences of eight convicts, all illegal immigrants, as part of an effort to ease prison overcrowding by deporting illegals.

Catherine Cortez Masto said during Wednesday’s board meeting that she couldn’t support reduced sentences for any inmate convicted of methamphetamine trafficking, adding, “If you deport them, they just will come back.”

Cortez Masto serves on the Pardons Board along with Gov. Jim Gibbons. Gibbons and all seven members of the state Supreme Court make up the board.

In recent months, the Pardons Board has been commuting sentences of inmates who were in the state illegally and then immediately turning them over to federal immigration authorities for deportation. The vote Wednesday will push the total to more than 100.

By having them deported, the state frees up cell space and saves the approximate $20,000 annual cost of keeping an inmate behind bars in a Nevada prison.

Gibbons in February chose the attorney general to lead his 15-member Methamphetamine Working Group, which recommended legislation to reduce meth use in Nevada. The state ranks first nationally in use of methamphetamine by people 12 and older.