LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The Fraternal Order of Police Nevada Lodge 21 has filed a complaint against the Nevada Department of Corrections after hundreds of high-level inmates, including those on death row, were transferred from northern Nevada down to a facility less than an hour from the Las Vegas Valley.
Nearly 2,000 prisoners were transported by bus between Ely State Prison and High Desert State Prison. The process took several days to complete.
In August, the labor union learned about NDOC’s move to transfer maximum custody inmates to the High Desert State Prison.
The lawsuit claimed these inmates are “more dangerous” and “require higher levels of correctional officer staffing, and different types of equipment.”
The complaint says High Desert State Prison lacks the proper equipment and staffing to allow high-risk inmates to be housed there.
According to the complaint, High Desert lacks:
- Mechanical restraints
- Adequate number of radios
- Adequate numbers of less lethal weapons coverage in the event correctional staff are attacked by such maximum custody inmates
The union says it demanded bargaining before the prisoner transfer but that did not happen, according to the suit.
On Sept. 3 they met with NDOC executives to reiterate the safety issues and demand to bargain. The transfer began two days later.
In the complaint filed on Sept. 11, it says that NDOC only had a total of three officers escorting inmates during the move-in process. But through the course of the day, that would dwindle to one single officer, the lawsuit said.
The complaint states inmates were restrained with leg shackles but then were later removed due to “management’s belief that the escort to the units was taking too long.”
When NDOC completed the transfer on Sept. 8, the union received a letter from the state’s human resources administrator saying it would “refuse to engage in either supplemental or impact bargaining over the safety implications caused by NDOC’s decision to move maximum custody inmates from ESP to HDSP.”
FOX5 has reached out to the Nevada Department of Corrections for comment.
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