Correctional Programs staff provides specialized programs and classes targeted to the special needs of youthful offenders; elderly offenders; sex offenders; pregnant offenders and others identified in our system. Because only 7% of Nevada’s inmates are female, women constitute a “special needs” group in NDOC, as well.

Youthful Offenders

The Growing Straight program provides age-specific academics, mental health and physical programming for young offenders aged 14-22 who serve time in Nevada. It is located at HDSP and has a Structured Living component, which is a quasi-military “basic training” physical fitness and disciplinary lifestyle. NDOC strives to keep young offenders who have come to adult prison for the first time in the Growing Straight program for at least one full year, to acclimate them to prison, segregate and protect them from the General Population, and get them started on a path of education and programming. NDOC’s Master Plan includes opening the Southern Nevada Correctional Center (SNCC) in Jean, NV, in August 2006 as a young adult prison housing between 550-600 male inmates offering specialized services for young adults.

Elderly Offenders

At NNCC in Carson City, NDOC has a Senior Structured Living Program (“True Grit”) and other age-specific activities for elderly male inmates and some middle-aged but disabled inmates. With a psychologist assigned full-time to this population, the inmates receive mental and emotional health programs, wheelchair calisthenics, monthly visits from “therapy dogs” who visit nursing homes in the community, art therapy and other classes designed to challenge them physically and mentally. Psychologist Mary Stewart runs the Senior programs at NNCC and she can be contacted by phone at (775) 887-9344 or by email at mstewart@doc.nv.gov.

Female Offenders

NDOC provides an extensive array of gender-specific programs for female offenders. Family Reunification is a major focus of our women’s programming. Girl Scouts Behind Bars and Parenting From Prison are just two of the programs available to Nevada inmates. Inmates also receive training in some non-traditional occupations to better prepare them for the workforce. Interns from the University of Nevada Las Vegas Boyd School of Law visit the women’s prison quarterly to provide Family Law Clinics and assist inmates with their family-related legal issues. UNLV students working on internships in Social Work or Counseling or Criminal Justice also volunteer part-time at our women’s prison and two camps (Silver Springs, 30 miles east of Carson City and Jean Camp, 25 miles south of Las Vegas) assisting with correctional programs and Discharge Planning. Many community volunteers provide services and activities for Nevada’s female inmates, as well.

Women who come to prison pregnant are housed at SNWCC in North Las Vegas. There they engage in a comprehensive Maternal/Child Health Program developed jointly by NDOC Medical Division staff and the Health Division of the State Human Resources Department. A program in labor and the delivery process is also given to inmates to prepare them for their childbirth experience. Correctional Programs Division staff works in concert with county social workers to ensure family reunification, where possible, and to provide counseling for inmates who must give up their children.

The Associate Warden of Programs for Southern Nevada Women’s Correctional Center is Audrey Edwards and she can be reached at (702) 651-8866 or by email at aedwards@doc.nv.gov.

Sex Offenders

The Nevada Department of Corrections has an intensive treatment program for sex offenders. The Sexual Treatment of Offenders in Prison (S.T.O.P.) program is offered by trained psychologists at Lovelock Correctional Center (LCC), Nevada State Prison (NSP), Northern Nevada Correctional Center (NNCC), High Desert State Prison (HDSP) and Southern Desert Correctional Center (SDCC). Classes at LCC are also conducted in Spanish. S.T.O.P. is a 48-week long program based on proven “best practices” that address criminal thinking errors, emotional deficits, relationships and relapse prevention. Because NDOC has over 1,600 convicted sex offenders (approximately 16% of our prison population), and half of them are located at LCC, that facility only offers S.T.O.P to offenders serving their last and final sentence. At other institutions, S.T.O.P. is offered to all convicted sex offenders. For inmates who do not make parole, an aftercare treatment regime is also offered.

See information about the Psych Panel process on this website.