CARSON CITY — A state panel is preparing to consider the fate of Nevada State Prison in Carson City as the state’s prisons chief moves ahead with plans to close it.

At Secretary of State Ross Miller’s request, the Board of Prison Commissioners will take up the issue at an emergency meeting Wednesday. The board consists of Gov. Jim Gibbons, Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.

Gibbons believes he doesn’t need legislative or the prison board’s approval to close century-old prison. He has said closing the prison will save the state at least $3 million per year

Miller maintains Nevada’s constitution specifically gives the board authority over the prisons. He has said the closure is “fiscally irresponsible” and would jeopardize public safety.

Department of Corrections Director Howard Skolnik backs Gibbons’ plan to close it. He said his legal counsel concludes such decisions are up to the prisons chief, not the Legislature or the prison board.

Skolnik said he plans to shut the prison down over the course of the next few months and move inmates to other institutions. He said its employees are needed to fill staffing gaps at other prisons once mandatory day-a-month furloughs begin in July.

Lynn Hettrick, deputy chief of staff to Gibbons, agreed with Skolnik’s position.

“We believe he has the right to run the prison system the way he needs to,” he told the Nevada Appeal.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera, both D-Las Vegas, said the closure doesn’t make sense when there’s a chance the system will run out of inmate beds even with the Carson City prison open.

The closure would involve the transfer of more than 650 inmates and 200 employees.

Gibbons, a Republican, and Miller, a Democrat, have been locking horns for several years over the prison board’s role in prison system management.

Gibbons contends the commission is a “policy board,” with no role in the department’s budget.