Nevada leaders to re-examine coronavirus behind bars

For the second time in two weeks, the Nevada Sentencing Commission is scheduled to examine efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus in the criminal justice system.

Earlier this month, the group narrowly recommended that the Board of Pardons Commissioners — composed of seven Nevada Supreme Court justices, Gov. Steve Sisolak and Attorney General Aaron Ford — decide the criminal justice system’s steps in response to the outbreak.

While the governor has yet to lay out an order regarding the prison system’s response to the pandemic, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo decided to release hundreds of inmates from the Clark County Detention Center, where people are held before their criminal cases are resolved.

At a virtual Sentencing Commission meeting scheduled for Wednesday, the group, headed by Nevada Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty, is expected to dive deeper into how state leaders are trying to control the virus around incarcerated people.

The panel will explore responses to COVID-19 in other states and the possible release of certain inmates in Nevada.

As of Tuesday, at least nine cases were reported among employees in state correctional facilities. No inmates had tested positive for the virus, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Scott Kelley.

Across the country, at least 9,437 people in prison had tested positive for the illness and 131 had died as of last week, according to the Marshall Project, which tracks cases in state and federal prisons.

More than a month ago, United Nations detention experts adopted measures that should be taken at detention facilities.

That list urged authorities to “conduct urgent assessments to identify those individual most at risk within the detained populations, and taking account of all particular vulnerable groups”; and “reduce prison populations and other detention populations wherever possible by implementing schemes of early, provisional or temporary release for those detainees for whom it is safe to do so.”

In advance of Wednesday’s meeting, Tod Story, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, called for specific details about how the virus was being handled behind bars.

“The Nevada Sentencing Commission has already voted to recommend to Governor Sisolak that he convene the Pardons Board to discuss potential release plans. Now police and prison officials need to start participating in this important discussion by answering the questions the public cares about. We’ve heard from dozens of Nevadans with concerns about the health and safety of incarcerated loved ones, and state leaders cannot keep brushing them off.”

Story said the prison system has yet to disclose details about its testing capabilities or the number of tests given to inmates. Kelley pointed out that the lack of positive cases among inmates is “a fact that NDOC is proud of as it shows the pro-active measures we’re taking at our facilities (are) working.”

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.