1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, if a correctional program has been established by the Director in the county in which an offender was sentenced to imprisonment, the Director may, after consulting with the Division, determine that an offender is suitable to participate in the correctional program if:

(a) The Director believes that the offender would participate successfully in and benefit from the correctional program;

(b) The offender has demonstrated a willingness to:

(1) Engage in employment or participate in vocational rehabilitation or job skills training; and

(2) Meet any existing obligation for restitution to any victim of his or her crime; and

(c) The offender is within 2 years of his or her probable release from prison, as determined by the Director.

2. Except as otherwise provided in this section, if the Director determines that an offender is suitable to participate in the correctional program, the Director shall request that the Chair of the State Board of Parole Commissioners assign the offender to the custody of the Division to participate in the correctional program. The Chair may assign the offender to the custody of the Division to participate in the correctional program for not longer than the remainder of the offender’s sentence.

3. The Director shall, by regulation, adopt standards setting forth which offenders are suitable to participate in the correctional program pursuant to this section. The standards adopted by the Director must be approved by the Board and must provide that an offender who:

(a) Has recently committed a serious infraction of the rules of an institution or facility of the Department;

(b) Has not performed the duties assigned to the offender in a faithful and orderly manner;

(c) Has, within the immediately preceding year, been convicted of any crime involving the use or threatened use of force or violence against a victim that is punishable as a felony;

(d) Has ever been convicted of a sexual offense that is punishable as a felony; or

(e) Has escaped or attempted to escape from any jail or correctional institution for adults,

is not eligible for assignment to the custody of the Division pursuant to this section to participate in a correctional program.

4. The Director shall adopt regulations requiring offenders who are assigned to the custody of the Division pursuant to this section to reimburse the Division and the Department for the cost of their participation in a correctional program, to the extent of their ability to pay.

5. The Director may return the offender to the custody of the Department at any time for any violation of the terms and conditions agreed upon by the Director and the Chair.

6. If an offender assigned to the custody of the Division pursuant to this section violates any of the terms or conditions agreed upon by the Director and the Chair and is returned to the custody of the Department, the offender forfeits all or part of the credits for good behavior earned by the offender before the offender was returned to the custody of the Department, as determined by the Director. The Director may provide for a forfeiture of credits pursuant to this subsection only after proof of the violation and notice is given to the offender. The Director may restore credits so forfeited for such reasons as the Director considers proper. The decision of the Director regarding such a forfeiture is final.

7. The assignment of an offender to the custody of the Division pursuant to this section shall be deemed:

(a) A continuation of the offender’s imprisonment and not a release on parole; and

(b) For the purposes of NRS 209.341, an assignment to a facility of the Department,

except that the offender is not entitled to obtain any benefits or to participate in any programs provided to offenders in the custody of the Department.

8. An offender does not have a right to be assigned to the custody of the Division pursuant to this section, or to remain in that custody after such an assignment. It is not intended that the establishment or operation of a correctional program creates any right or interest in liberty or property or establishes a basis for any cause of action against the State of Nevada, its political subdivisions, agencies, boards, commissions, departments, officers or employees.

(Added to NRS by 2003, 2574; A 2007, 3180)