Low staffing levels cited in Nevada prison shootings

CARSON CITY — There were more than 200 incidents of correctional officers firing shotguns during inmate incidents in the past three years at six prisons, with the vast majority occurring at High Desert State Prison, a review released Tuesday shows.

But two-thirds of the shooting incidents involved only "poppers" or blank rounds, according to the review of the Nevada Department of Corrections "use of force" policies and practices by the independent group the Association of State Correctional Administrators.

The 22-page review offers an explanation of why there were a total of 208 shooting incidents at the prisons over the past three years, but no comparison data to suggest whether the number was excessive or not compared to other prison systems. No specific incidents were described in the analysis.

The report, which includes 10 recommendations, says that Nevada has the highest prisoner to staffing ratio of any state department of corrections in the country at 12.28 prisoners to each security staff member. Nevada's ratio is also nearly twice the national average of 6.27, the report says.

"The lack of staff to deter inmates from attacking other inmates or staff and the lack of staff to respond quickly to incidents have placed the department in the position of relying heavily and almost exclusively to the use of weapons to maintain order," the report said.

The reason why High Desert is the most frequent site of incidents is also explained in the report. It shows that 48 of 71 total incidents involving bird shot were at the one institution from 2012 to 2014. Nearly 100 incidents of blank rounds out of 137 total were at the institution, just south of Indian Springs and about 40 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The facility is now using rubber bullets as well to avoid the need to use bird shot.

The 7.5 bird shot used in the agency's 12-guage shotguns is considered non-lethal. When employed, rounds of the pellets are "skipped" into the ground before hitting an inmate. The pellets normally cause only superficial injuries.

The rubber "stinger" round is considered non-lethal and is a lesser response to the bird shot, which is used only as a last response in severe incidents. Rubber bullets are meant to cause pain but not injury.

The facility in Southern Nevada is the reception center for new inmates for the department. It also houses several transitional populations. Some units house inmates who have been involved in gang or violent encounters.

Reception centers "may hold a number of inmates who are intent on using violence to gain notoriety," the report says.

Among the recommendations in the report are that all uniformed staff be issued collapsible batons and handcuffs

"Controlling unruly inmates is the ability to safely restrain them," the report says.

It also recommends that the department phase out the use of bird shot entirely as its final recommendation.

State officials, including E.K. McDaniel, the new interim director of corrections, said they agreed with some of the findings in the report but disagreed with others in their 34-page response.

McDaniel noted, for example, that handcuffs are available to correctional officers.

He also questioned the staffing levels cited in the report, saying it is not clear how the association arrived at its ratios.

The 2015 Legislature approved 100 new correctional officer positions for the system, and the first round of new hires is already in place, McDaniel said. A second round of hiring will occur in January, he said.

The state response stopped short of agreeing that the use of bird shot should be eliminated, but noted the implementation of the other recommendations should reduce the frequency of its use.

Mike Willden, chief of staff to Gov. Brian Sandoval, said the agency will work over time to implement many of the recommendations in the report.

McDaniel is interim director following the resignation of Greg Cox at Sandoval's request last month.

Cox's resignation followed months of high-profile conflicts at Nevada prisons, beginning with a fatal inmate shooting in November at High Desert State Prison, that wasn't revealed until four months later when the Review-Journal discovered the Clark County coroner's office had ruled it a homicide. Inmate Carlos Manuel Perez, 28, died Nov. 12, 2014. A second inmate, Andrew Arevalo, was injured.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801