Spending to expand-update Silver State Industries equipment approved

The Board of Examiners on Tuesday approved spending $346,507 to expand and update equipment at Silver State Industries.

Deputy Director of Corrections Brian Connett told the board headed by Gov. Brian Sandoval the purchases included new and replacement equipment and software including new construction of facilities.

He said afterward the key is replacing some old equipment including a Computer Aided Design (CAD) system so antiquated it can’t talk to customers who send in designs for wood and metal products.

One big purchase, Connett said, will be equipment to start manufacturing T-shirts for inmates. Prison Industries already makes the blue jeans worn by inmates. He said making shirts would further reduce costs in the long run.

The plan also includes tools for the furniture shop.

Connett said with the new equipment, Prison Industries will be able to better train inmates on state of the art equipment to improve their chances of getting good jobs once released.

“Our product is the inmates,” Connett said. “They’ll have much more marketable skills.”

The board also approved a contract with Next Generation Assessment to provide comprehensive assessments of charter school students from third through 10th grades. The company will track student proficiency and academic growth through the years a student is in charter school.

The total value of the contract is $1.66 million.