LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A local law enforcement union has filed a complaint against the Executive Department of The State of Nevada and its Nevada Department of Corrections over the recent prisoner swap.
It brought hundreds of high-level offenders to High Desert State Prison about an hour outside Las Vegas.
The prisoner swap has the Fraternal Order of Police taking a swipe at NDOC in this new complaint.
NDOC says the transfer went off without a hitch, but the president of the corrections officers union says, NDOC not only dropped the ball on safety protocol, but deliberately cut corners because the transfer process was taking too long.
Take it from Paul Lunkwitz, who was with NDOC for over 20 years, and is the current President of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 21 in the Vegas valley.
“You couldn’t ask for a more poor example of management, then selling something different in the news,” Lunkwitz said.
The complaint filed by the FOP states, “Initially, these inmates were being escorted by three corrections officers, and the inmates were restrained with leg shackles. During the course of the day, orders were given to drop the number of escorting officers down to two officers, and later to one, and the inmates had their shackles removed.”
Why? The complaint states it was “management’s belief that the escort to the units was taking too long.”
“If the department thinks that safety and security is paramount, that’s it’s a joke,” Lunkwitz said. “The statements that they’re giving that doesn’t reflect reality.”
NDOC says nearly 2,000 inmates were moved between the two institutions as part of a “seamless transition,” and that corrections officers at the now maximum-security facility of High Desert State Prison are receiving “comprehensive training,” to be able to handle the state’s most violent offenders. But Lunkwitz says it’s not enough.
“All they did was teach them and refresh them on restraining maximum security inmates. That’s it,” Lunkwitz said.
The lawsuit adds the High Desert State Prison doesn’t have enough staff and equipment to handle the new inmates, who are much different than the state’s medium security offenders.
“They’re not stupid, like they know what they’re doing when it comes to breaching security and things like that. That’s why they’re held under such strict maximum classifications,” Lunkwitz said.
Lunkwitz says the Employee-Management Relations Board will make a ruling after they have a hearing.
He is confident the board will rule in the union’s favor and moving forward he thinks NDOC will be more likely to plan transfers like this well in advance with them so it doesn’t have to get ugly after the fact.
NDOC says it’s been planning the swap for months, factoring in the recent deadly prison fight in Ely where three inmates were killed.
FOX5 has reached out to NDOC for comment on the complaint, and will update this story when we get a response.
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