Corrections officers file complaint against NDOC over max-security inmate swap

The department announced Sept. 11 that it had completed the transfer after swapping the custody designations of two prisons, making a prison outside Las Vegas Nevada’s new maximum-security facility.

The move was prompted by an “uptick in gang activity and violence” inside Ely State Prison, the state’s former maximum-security facility, according to prison officials.

That same day, Lodge 21 of the Fraternal Order of Police Nevada, the correction officers’ union, filed its complaint to the Department of Business and Industry Employee-Management Relations Board about the transfer.

In August, the union learned that the department intended to transfer its maximum custody inmates from Ely State Prison to High Desert State Prison.

Inside a maximum-security prison, offenders are housed in single-occupancy cells, leaving their cells only for scheduled exercise periods, showers, visits, professional interviews, hearings and telephone calls. When offenders do leave their cells, they are under direct supervision, according to the department.

While the department said in a release that all High Desert officers will be receiving training on working in a maximum-security prison, the complaint said that corrections officers involved in the transfer had not all been previously trained on the handling, supervising or transporting of maximum custody inmates.

‘Unnecessary risk’

In addition to a lack of training, the union said in the complaint that the facilities at High Desert are not able to safely house maximum custody inmates without putting officers at “unnecessary risk.”

These alleged shortcomings included a lack of equipment and staffing. The facility doesn’t have sufficient numbers of mechanical restraints, radios, less lethal weapons and provisions for a lethal weapons response in the event an officer is attacked, the complaint said.

Trainees, or cadets who have not yet received basic training to become a corrections officer, according to the union’s president, Paul Lunkwitz, were tasked with preparing an inventory of inmates’ property in the run-up to the swap.

The complaint said the trainees were not qualified to do this, as they can’t yet properly recognize contraband.

Because of these concerns, the union made a demand to bargain over the safety implications of the move before the inmates were transported. The complaint accused the Nevada Department of Corrections of refusing to delay the move pending the outcome of bargaining.

Corrections officers met with the department’s administration on Sept. 3 in attempt to bargain, and the transfer began on Sept. 5, according to the complaint.

Arrived at High Desert on Sept. 8

Inmates traveling from Ely arrived at High Desert on Sept. 8, the union said. Protocol surrounding the move dictated that at first, three corrections officers would escort one maximum-security inmate, who was restrained with leg shackles.

As the day went on, the complaint said that orders were given to drop the number of escorting officers per inmate down to two and then only one, and inmates had the shackles taken off.

This change was allegedly due to the fact that management felt it was “taking too long” to escort the inmates to their cells.

The union is accusing the department of failing to bargain in good faith and is requesting that the state government’s employee-management relations board make a finding that the department committed a prohibited practice.

The union also requested that the board issue a cease and desist in the transportation of maximum custody inmates until bargaining over the safety implications of this move is completed.

The Nevada Department of Corrections did not respond to requests for comment.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.