Resorts World Las Vegas then-President Scott Sibella speaks during the resort's opening in 2021. Looking on (seated, L-R) are Clark County Commissioners Tick Segerblom and Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Nevada U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, Genting Chairman K.T. Lim, then-Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, and Hilton President and CEO Chris Nassetta. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

The Nevada Gaming Control Board, which has been silent since news broke last summer of a federal investigation of Las Vegas casinos and executives, filed a complaint Tuesday against Scott Sibella, the former president of MGM Grand and Resorts World, that mirrors the federal case that resulted in Sibella’s guilty plea in January to one count of violating anti-money laundering law.  

The complaint from state officials comes a week before Sibella is scheduled to be sentenced in a California federal court. He has signed a plea agreement in which he admits to allowing illegal bookmaker Wayne Nix pay a gambling debt at MGM in 2018 with $120,000 in cash, absent the required reporting to federal authorities. 

In 2022, according to the plea agreement, Sibella told unidentified law enforcement agents he “heard that Nix was in the booking business” but didn’t want to know the source of his money. “I stay out of it. If we know, we can’t allow them to gamble.” 

Sibella’s attorney, John Spilotro, declined to say whether Sibella plans to enter into an agreement with the GCB or fight the agency’s effort to discipline him. “When the time is right, you will know,” he said.

“I think it would have been better had the Control Board been first to market with all of this,” says Alan Feldman, a Distinguished Fellow at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute and a former MGM Resorts public relations executive. “But there are any number of situations where the federal government may get to something faster. I don’t think that’s a great look for Nevada, but I don’t think it’s the cause for any enormous concern.”

Former Las Vegas gaming executive and one-time member of the California Gambling Control Commission Richard Schuetz disagrees. “The Nevada Gaming Control Board needs to focus 100% on saving face, because they are destroying the credibility of their ability to regulate this business,” he said in an interview.

The federal probe, jointly conducted by the Criminal Division of the Internal Revenue Service, Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), like the state investigation, are now focused on other hotels, including Resorts World, according to sources approached by law enforcement and regulators. Sibella was Resorts World’s president and chief operating officer until September 2023, when he was terminated for violating company policy. He remains licensed as its president, according to the Gaming Control Board (GCB) complaint.

The Current reported last week the GCB is interviewing individuals with knowledge of alleged illegal bookmaker Matt Bowyer’s gambling at Resorts World and other casinos. Bowyer, whose California home was raided last October by the same federal authorities who investigated Sibella, has admitted through his attorney to taking bets from Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of baseball star Shohei Ohtani. Mizuhara is alleged to have stolen $16 million from Ohtani’s bank account in order to fuel his gambling habit. 

Mizuhara, according to an affidavit signed by Chris Seymour of the Criminal Division of the Internal Revenue Service, was in debt to Bowyer for tens of millions of dollars and was sending weekly payments of $500,000 in 2023. 

On Tuesday, ESPN reported that Mizuhara wired some of the weekly payments to an associate of Bowyer’s, who sent it to his own Resorts World gambling account. 

A spokesperson for Resorts World noted Mizuhara has never been a patron. “Any relationship between Mr. Mizuhara and these former RWLV customers was entirely unknown to RWLV until these allegations were made public.”

State gaming regulators are said to be inquiring about Sibella’s relationship with Bowyer, according to a source who has agreed to be interviewed by the GCB. Agents may also be re-examining their earlier exoneration of Sibella, according to the source. 

In early 2023, Gaming Control Board member George Assad, newly appointed by Gov. Joe Lombardo, announced an investigation cleared Sibella of allegations leveled a year earlier by gambler and Resorts World vendor Brandon Sattler, who said Sibella was aware of undesirable patrons gambling at the hotel. 

Resorts World hired Los Angeles law firm Bird Marella to conduct an internal investigation. The “scope of inquiry,” according to a document provided to the Current by a source close to Sibella, included whether Sibella provided “any intentionally false or misleading information to the Gaming Control Board” in March 2023, “particularly with respect to questions and answers about Brandon Sattler?”

The law firm also investigated whether Resorts World “engaged with any unsuitable persons or businesses in their lease agreements and/or services agreements,” with Tacos El Cabron and its principals, including convicted illegal bookie and admitted money launderer David Stroj. 

In April 2023 the Current reported Stroj was the manager of the taco stand, which he said was owned by his father. A month later the stand was closed. The Gaming Control Board declined to say whether the taco stand’s closure was related to the state’s investigation of alleged ties between the vendor and Sibella.  

Bird Marella also investigated Resorts World’s relationship with Eight Cigar Lounge owners Joseph Angelo Bravo, a convicted drug trafficker, and Las Vegas attorney David Chesnoff.   

The source says the law firm’s report, presented to the GCB as Resorts World’s response to the state’s investigation, cleared Sibella and the hotel of wrongdoing. 

MGM and the Gaming Control Board have been aware of allegations against Sibella since at least 2019. 

“The governor or the Attorney General should appoint a truly independent group to look at how the Gaming Control Board missed this,” says Schuetz.

Gov. Joe Lombardo did not respond to requests for comment. Attorney General Aaron Ford declined to discuss an ongoing case. 

Note: This story was updated with comment from Resorts World.

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Annette Walker, whose son died while in prison, and attorney James Urrutia speak during a press conference Monday. (Photo: Michael Lyle/Nevada Current)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

A year after 44-year-old Christian Walker died in prison after being beaten by corrections officers, his family  sued the Nevada Department Corrections over what they say was excessive use of force that led to his death.

But families of people incarcerated in Nevada have warned Walker’s death is not the only instance of excessive use of force within the prison system.

Walker’s mother along with the prison advocacy group Return Strong, which is composed of families of those incarcerated, demanded an investigation into incidents of abuse against inmates during a press conference Friday. 

“The pattern of these abuses are really beginning to cast a shadow over the integrity of the prison system,” said Jodi Hocking, the founder of Return Strong. “We can no longer stand by and just watch what is happening and not create an uproar about it.” 

Christian Walker’s family filed a wrongful death suit April 12.

His family has been trying to get answers ever since he died at High Desert State Prison on April 14, 2023. 

Walker was transferred there from Southern Desert Correctional Center three days before he died. Prior to his death, the lawsuit says he was assaulted by officers who used batons and pepper spray.

“I guarantee you we’re going to find, in part of our lawsuit, that they already destroyed video and photographic evidence to hide their crimes,” said James Urrutia, the attorney representing the family.

Teri Vance, a spokeswoman with the department, said NDOC doesn’t comment on pending litigation. 

Walker’s autopsy report stated he had trauma to his head and neck as well as blood smeared across his face, but ruled the cause of death natural causes.

Urruita said corrections staff “beat him and left him to die in a cell all by himself.”  

The coroner’s findings, Hocking said, has since been independently reviewed by a former Clark County medical examiner.

“He concluded the autopsy was flawed and incorrect,” she said. “The only plausible explanation for Christans death according to him was brain swelling caused by the assault. There was no way this was the result of natural causes as stated in the original autopsy.”

On Friday, Return Strong also called on Clark County District Attorney Steven Wolfson to initiate an independent public fact finding review of the autopsy report. High Desert State Prison northwest of Las Vegas is in Clark County.

Annette Walker, Christian’s mother, said the suit isn’t “seeking vengeance, but I do want to seek answers,” 

“Christian’s death raises questions about the treatment of inmates, about the conditions of the prisons system and the very nature of our justice system, who is in charge and why is no one being held accountable for such horrific behavior against human rights,” she said.  

Her son, she said, wasn’t perfect. 

In the 25 years her son was incarcerated, she said he had made strides to turn his life around, which included “turning to faith and becoming a minister.” 

“He dreamed of the day he would walk free, eager to share his journey and contribute to society. And to live the rest of his life as a testimony of the power of change and forgiveness,” she said. “Christian’s life was cut short under circumstances no human being should ever have to go through.” 

Urrutia said other families of those who are incarcerated tell similar stories of inhumane treatment, including not receiving medical care or having basic needs met.

That includes Ruben Tovar, whose son is incarcerated at Ely State Prison 

Tover, who spoke alongside Annette Walker, said on his transit to the facility last summer, his son “suffered grotesque violence, abuse and torture at the hands of the very people entrusted to keep him safe as humanely possible.”

During the ride, Tover said the bus pulled over at a gas station for 45 minutes. 

“A guard turned up the heater to the max in the middle of summer during a heat wave,” he said, relating what was later told to him by his son. “After they arrived at Ely, my son was brutally beaten and had his fingers deliberately broken. We reached out to the prisons immediately and couldn’t get any answers. His visitations were canceled so we could not lay eyes on him. ” 

Along with the lawsuit over Walker’s death, Return Strong and families are demanding an investigation into the officers involved with transit to Ely State Prison.

Hocking said that in “in multiple use of force complaints that we’ve received” the same corrections officers keep reappearing. 

The group, she said, received 354 letters from inmates that had complaints of correctional abuse, retaliation and assault from January 2023 through March of this year. Complaints named 56 corrections officers and medical staff.

For several years, she added, the group has heard rumblings about officers who oversee the transit abusing inmates during transportation. 

When asked how NDOC examines use of force complaints, Vance said cases are referred to the Inspector General’s office and it determines if there is a need for an investigation. 

“The IG’s Office will determine findings and may recommend disciplinary action,” Vance said. “The IG’s Office may refer the incident to an outside agency for criminal charges.”

The investigation, including reports, documents, results or interviewers conducted, are confidential and can’t be shared “without authorization by the Inspector General, Director or appropriate legal authority,” Vance added. 

Return Strong has recently worked with state lawmakers to bring reforms to the prison system, including setting up an independent ombudsman’s office.

NDOC Director James Dzurenda told lawmakers at an interim legislative committee meeting in February that the office is in the process of finding an independent vendor to oversee the office.

While Hocking said she had hoped the ombudsman’s office would be able to eventually look into issues of abuse, the work wouldn’t happen immediately. 

The post Lawsuit against NDOC seeks answers on man who died while in custody appeared first on Nevada Current.

"The Board has no jurisdiction over a Non-Licensee of the Board," the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners concluded regarding Nevada Department of Corrections Medical Director Dr. Kevin Williams. Williams is pictured here in a screengrab from a 2020 Tennessee Department of Corrections video.

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

It took the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners three months to determine it has no jurisdiction over Dr. Kenneth Williams, medical director of Nevada’s prisons, who has been practicing medicine without a license since September of last year when he joined the Department.  

In February, the Current reported Williams, who served as medical director of Tennessee’s prisons, lacked the minimum qualification listed in the state’s job solicitation – a medical license in Nevada. Practicing medicine without a state license is a felony. 

“He is currently ongoing to get his medical license and he’s working with the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners,” Nevada Department of Corrections Assistant Director William Quenga said on Feb. 22. 

Williams was hired by NDOC Director James Dzurenda, who was appointed to his position by Gov. Joe Lombardo. Lombardo has not responded to numerous requests for comment. The Board of Medical Examiners’ members are appointed by the governor.

According to the board’s executive director Edward Cousineau, Williams applied on Dec. 28, 2023 for a medical license, four months after he assumed the role of NDOC’s medical director. 

In a letter dated March 4, the board’s Chief of Investigations Ernesto Diaz, told prison doctors who filed complaints that the board had opened an investigation. 

“When the initial phase of the investigation is completed, the case will be presented to the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Board which meets four times a calendar year,” Diaz wrote. 

Last week, the Current questioned Cousineau regarding the board’s lack of jurisdiction over an unlicensed physician. 

“We have no jurisdiction,” Cousineau said, but declined to elaborate how the board could investigate Williams, given its lack of jurisdiction. 

The following day, on March 22, Diaz wrote to the prison medical providers who filed complaints that “the facts alleged in your complaint do not constitute a violation of the Nevada Medical Practice Act. The Board has no jurisdiction over a Non-Licensee of the Board. We will forward your complaint to the Attorney General’s office for further review of the information and alleged violations.”

Attorney General Aaron Ford did not respond to requests for comment. 

“We have no comment,” said Quenga of NDOC. 

‘Rules for thee and not for me’ 

“It is the mission of the Nevada Department of Corrections to protect society by maintaining offenders in safe and humane conditions while preparing them for successful reentry back into society,” says NDOC’s website. “We operate as one Team, proud of our reputation as leaders in corrections.”

Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, says Williams’s lack of a Nevada medical license is alarming. 

“The most consistent complaint we receive about Nevada prisons is related to medical neglect or improper medical treatment,” he said in a statement to the Current. “Moreover, NDOC and the state continue to seek execution drugs from other places to misuse medication in executions, even without the consent of the businesses making these pharmaceuticals. The ‘rules for thee and not for me’ approach the government undertakes is beyond problematic.” 

Williams stopped chairing the department utilization review board meetings following the Current’s story in February, according to several providers. However, he has continued to practice medicine by dictating treatment protocol. 

“Williams is still ruling the roost and making life miserable for all of our prisoners,” said a provider who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. The provider says Williams routinely denies requests for medical treatment. “He doesn’t approve anything and we’re the ones that get stuck telling people, ‘sorry, you need to walk around with whatever the problem is.’”

“How can we let him continue to do this when he doesn’t have a license? Yet the rest of us had to get a license,” the provider asked. 

Williams also lacks a license from the state’s Board of Pharmacy, for which a Nevada medical license is a prerequisite.

The post Board punts probe of unlicensed prison medical director to AG  appeared first on Nevada Current.

Automated traffic enforcement has earned criticism for generating local government revenue by disproportionately ticketing disadvantaged communities. (Photo: Ronda Churchill/Nevada Current))

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

The Nevada Advisory Committee on Traffic Safety urged state lawmakers Wednesday to consider legislation authorizing the use of speeding and red light cameras.

Critics warned automated ticketing of motorists via photos singles out populations, and can become more of a revenue model for governments and system vendors than a solution to traffic safety. 

Lawmakers during Wednesday’s interim Growth and Infrastructure Committee meeting were briefed on the increased number of traffic deaths in recent years, in particular among pedestrians, and ways to reduce fatalities and safety issues.

The traffic safety committee recommended legislative changes to allow jurisdictions to consider using automated traffic enforcement, which allows for law enforcement to issue traffic tickets by using cameras to catch motorists who are speeding or running red lights.

Leisa Moseley-Sayles, the Nevada state director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, said there are limits that “support the claim that these cameras significantly enhance road safety.”

The use of the cameras, she said, leads to higher traffic citations that “throw more people into the criminal legal system and are known to exacerbate poverty, perpetuate racial disparities.”  

Both the traffic safety committee and the Fines and Fees Justice Center agree any policy should emphasize transparency and not become a tool for raising revenue from citations instead of a means of enhancing safety. 

Amy Davey, administrator of the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety within the Department of Public Safety, said enacting automated enforcement would be a stopgap and not intended to be “the end all be all.” 

“If you leave (cameras) there forever in one spot, people avoid that spot then you have a high crash area somewhere else because they are now taking a different route,” she said. “ It definitely shouldn’t become a prop for any type of revenue for local jurisdictions or state jurisdiction.”

Nevada state lawmakers banned the use of speed and red light cameras in 1999.

“It was a bipartisan bill that passed the Senate with two no votes and passed the Assembly unanimously,” said Nick Shepack, the Nevada deputy directory of the the Fines and Fees Justice Center. “Much of the same concerns we have today were discussed during those hearings when this bill passed.”

Nevada is among 22 states that don’t allow automated traffic enforcement, he said. 

Assembly Bill 93, a Growth and Infrastructure Committee bill introduced in the 2023 Legislative Session, proposed installing automated traffic cameras in school zones. The legislation didn’t receive a hearing.

Davey said there has been a “pretty steep increase in traffic fatalities,” in recent years, adding that in 2021 there were 385 traffic deaths, which jumped to 416 deaths in 2022. There were 91 pedestrian deaths in 2022, an increase from 84 the year prior. 

There is also an increase in people who have been hit by cars and survived, she added, with a large number of children being hit in school zones. 

“Clark County School District is reporting that 98 students have been struck this school year in school zones,” Davey said. “Washoe County is reporting that 64 school aged children have been struck in school zones this school year.”

Though past legislative attempts have failed, Andrew Bennett, the chair of the traffic safety committee, who also works at Clark County Office of Traffic Safety, said lawmakers should still consider eliminating the current Nevada law “that limits local and state agencies abilities to use road safety cameras.”

Other recommendations the traffic safety committee proposed included increasing fines in school zones or enacting a primary seat belt law, which allows law enforcement to stop drivers for not wearing a seat belt even if there aren’t other traffic violations. 

Discriminatory ‘revenue generators’

The use of automated traffic enforcement has earned criticism for disproportionately ticketing communities of color and disadvantaged populations.

Shepack said research in the District of Columbia showed drivers in “predominantly Black areas were over 17 times more likely to receive a violation.”

“We are also deeply concerned these cameras can too easily become revenue generators, because in reality they serve as significant sources of revenue for both the municipalities that employ them as well as the vendors that manufacture and install them,” Moseley-Sayles said. 

Data on automated enforcement, they added, doesn’t indicate a reduction in traffic and pedestrian deaths. 

If the answer is to eliminate or reduce traffic fatalities, “then the structure and function of Nevada’s streets and roads must be brought in line with the goal of infrastructure investments,” Moseley-Sayles said.

That could include investment  in other “traffic calming methods such as speed bumps, raised sidewalks and traffic circles,” she said.

“Having mechanisms in place that slow drivers down immediately, rather than delayed citation in the mail, it seems like that would be more effective,” she said.

If lawmakers were to move forward, Shepack said they should consider less punitive sanctions, such as warnings and driver safety classes on the first offense. Citations should also take into consideration people’s ability to pay.  

Lawmakers should also restrict vendors contracted to install traffic cameras from having any power to enforce or prosecute, he added. 

“This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are contracts that exist where terms of enforcement and right to prosecute individuals are given directly to private companies,” he said. 

While encouraging lawmakers to consider automated enforcement, Bennett, the traffic committee chair, told lawmakers that “it is vital to learn from the mistakes of others” that have used speeding and red light cameras.  

“The journey of automated traffic enforcement implementation in other communities has not been without fault,” he said. “By examining the pitfalls that others have encountered, we can navigate the implementation process more smoothly ensuring our approach is both effective and publicly acceptable.”

Shepack pointed to California as an example. The state passed legislation last year to implement a pilot program to allow certain jurisdictions with larger populations to set up speed cameras. 

The bill, he said, came with strict requirements, including only allowing for cameras to operate in school zones during hours children were present and mandating revenue collected from citations go toward “street calming infrastructure with the goal of removing cameras.”

There is also a mandatory review process and cameras must be removed if data doesn’t show a reduction in safety issues. 

Moseley-Sayles recommended at least waiting for some results of the California program before Nevada moves forward.  

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Debt collection can even lead to incarceration, in what advocates say amounts to debtor’s prison. (Getty Images)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Nevada is one of the worst states in the nation when it comes to offering consumer debt protections, according to a new analysis by the National Center for Access to Justice at Fordham Law School.

Nevada ranked 47th in the nation on NCAJ’s Consumer Debt Litigation Index, which analyzes states against 24 specific policies designed to protect consumers. Only Hawaii, Louisiana, Montana and Rhode Island offered fewer protections than Nevada.

NCAJ’s Consumer Debt Litigation Index can be broken down into four basic principles, explained Director of Law & Policy Lauren Jones.

“First, in too many cases people never even get notice that they are being sued, and, if they do, they have no idea how to proceed. People should be notified of a lawsuit and where they can find help,” she said in a statement. “Second, to prevent bogus lawsuits, creditors should be required to produce evidence that a debt claim is valid. Third, fees, interest, and total payment amounts should be limited so that lawsuits do not render people destitute. And, finally, debtor’s prison must be eliminated once and for all.”

Nevada does not require defendants be notified via first class mail of a consumer debt lawsuit against them, nor does the state require guidance be given on where consumers can seek free legal assistance.

Low-income people, who often move frequently, are considered especially vulnerable to what’s known as “sewer service” — when a debt collector falsely claims to have properly served notice, according to the ACLU, which has also advocated against the criminalization of private debt.

NCAJ advocates for state legislation requiring debt complaints to include key information, such as the name of the original creditor and an itemization of the amount being sought. They also recommend a four-year or shorter statute of limitation on debt collection actions. Nevada has neither policy.

Such policies would benefit consumers, who may have valid defenses against a debt claim but not realize it or have the opportunity to present it in court.

Nevada state lawmakers last year did pass a bill that would have required debt collection agencies to provide, upon request, a letter explaining what is owed, including a breakdown of the principal balance, the amount of interest and fees being assessed, and how the interest and fees were calculated. Collection agencies would also have been required to provide a letter stating that a debt has been satisfactorily paid.

Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed the bill, citing issues with a provision that would have allowed a debtor to take civil action against a debt collection agency who failed to provide the required payoff or satisfaction letters.

Debt claims are the most common type of civil cases in Nevada, according to Pew, which analyzed available court data from 2021. Debt collection claims made up 38.7% of civil cases in Nevada that year. For comparison, landlord-tenant filings made up 31.8% and all other types of civil filings made up the remaining 30%.

Debt claims are clogging up the legal system, which already favors debt collectors over average citizens, argues NCAJ. Nationally, more than 70% of debt cases are won by default when the person being sued fails to respond or appear in court. Less than 10% of people sued for debt can afford a lawyer, according to Pew. An analysis by the ACLU in 2018 put legal representation for debtors even lower — 2%.

Those filing the lawsuits almost always have legal representation, according to consumer advocates. One analysis of the Great Lakes region found that five large national companies made up more than half of the debt collection court cases in Michigan and Indiana.

For many, these private debts perpetuate a cycle of financial instability. Court-ordered wage garnishments that fall under existing caps can still impact already stressed wallets, say advocates.

At its worst, debt collection can even lead to incarceration, in what advocates say amounts to debtor’s prison. Thirty states, including Nevada, allow for the arrest and imprisonment of people after they fail to obey a court order to pay the debt.

NCAJ recommends banishing imprisonment over consumer debt judgments altogether, or at the very least providing right to counsel for proceedings where incarceration may be the outcome.

“Legal reforms can reduce the number of unjust lawsuits filed, increase the opportunity for people to learn they have been sued and defend themselves effectively, and stem the flow of adverse judgments that lead to unjust wage garnishment, arrest and incarceration,” said NCAJ Executive Director David Udell in a statement.

The post Nevada offers fewer consumer debt protections than almost every other state, report says appeared first on Nevada Current.

High Desert State Prison near Indian Springs about 40 miles northwest of Las Vegas is the largest institution in the Nevada Department of Corrections system. (Nevada Department of Corrections photo)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

New laws limiting solitary confinement and ending medical copays have taken effect, but efforts to set up an independent prison ombudsman and expand medical services to women who are incarcerated are still ongoing, prison officials told lawmakers on Friday.

The 2023 Legislative Session saw substantial changes to the correctional system, which came following years of civil rights and prison advocacy groups criticizing the Nevada Department of Corrections for a lack of transparency. 

NDOC Director James Dzurenda, along with advocacy organizations, gave an overview of how policies are being implemented at Friday’s Joint Interim Standing Judiciary Committee hearing. 

Senate Bill 307 went into effect Jan. 1 and  requires the department to implement the “least restrictive manner” when separating inmates from the general population, and doing so for the “shortest period of time safely as possible.”

State Sen. Melanie Scheible, who co-chairs the committee, said all the “legal standards outlined in SB 307 have been met” and that people are no longer “spending more than 22 hours a day in their cell.”

Scheible said she had been meeting with corrections officials and advocacy groups over the past several months to monitor implementation of the bill. 

The bill requires a multidisciplinary treatment team, which includes a mental health clinician, to conduct a review after a person has been in solitary for 15 consecutive days, which Scheible said is also happening.  

Dzurenda said the long-term goal was to “abolish solitary confinement permanently in the state of Nevada,” though he said NDOC still could use other forms of “segregation” that is used for discipline or out of safety concerns for other inmates.

Jodi Hocking, the founder of the prisoner advocacy group Return Strong, called SB 307’s passage “a phenomenal bill that made historical strides” but added there was still work to be done around understanding the use of facility lockdowns and other methods to segregate certain individuals.

“I just want to be clear that we are super ecstatic about the work that did happen but there is still a long way to go,” Hocking said. “I don’t want it to seem like we’re done with it. Check mark for us.”

Hocking applauded the overall changes that have happened with the department, as well as the policy reforms that have been won, but said there is always room for improvement.

“It has really been a tremendous improvement in openness, transparency and communication going on between the department and stakeholders,” Hocking said. 

Adding additional staff, Dzurenda said, has enabled the department to implement legislation. 

Dzurenda previously served as the director until 2019.

His successor, and predecessor, Charles Daniels, had received criticism on multiple fronts, from shoddy Covid protocols to predatory deductions from inmate bank accounts. Daniels was asked to resign by former Gov. Steve Sisolak in fall 2022.

When Dzurenda returned to the position in 2023, the department had an overall 39% staff vacancy rate, which was higher at some locations. Ely State Prison Facility had a 52% vacancy rate while Lovelock Correctional Center had a 49% rate. 

Dzurenda said the department has hired 100 additional correctional officers since October and are looking to hire 400 more officers by the end of the year.

He said the goal was to see the vacancy rate drop to 10% by the start of the 2025 Legislative Session. 

From hygeine products to ‘backdoor taxes’

Other updates on newly enacted corrections policies included:

Assembly Bill 292 expanded medical and behavioral health services for women, including providing unlimited feminine hygiene products upon request. 

The department eliminated costs for hygiene items. 

Dzurenda said NDOC didn’t receive any additional funds to implement the bill despite telling legislators how much it would cost..

“We are working on the funding for that so we comply by the end of the year with all the women’s services mentioned in the bill, which is the mammograms, pap smears and also gynecological exams,” he said. 

While Assembly Bill 452 added protections around prison visitations by requiring the department to notify families at least 72 hours prior to a visit being canceled, the legislation also establishes an independent ombudsman to provide oversight to the prison system. 

The proposal to search for an independent vendor to serve as the ombudsman is scheduled to be discussed at an upcoming Board of Prison Commissioners meeting, Dzurenda said. 

Once approved, there will be a committee to oversee the process and help select a vendor to run the office. 

Dzurenda told lawmakers he plans to formally ask the ACLU of Nevada to have a representative on the committee. 

Senate Bill 416, referred to as the cost of incarceration bill, limited marking up costs of hygiene items purchased by those incarcerated, ended medical copays and “man down” fees, when those incarcerated require emergency medical services.

The high costs of commissary items and medical expenses were typically footed by families of those incarcerated, which advocacy likened to a “backdoor tax” on families. 

Nick Shepack, the Nevada States Deputy Director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, said the bill is already expected to save “families an estimated $1.1 million a year.”

“There were more copays than we knew, including copays for prosthetics, which has now been eliminated,” Shepack said. “We have really helped people a lot.” 

The organization discovered more fees those incarcerated pay, including purchasing their own equipment and certifications for prison jobs.

“If you take all the work equipment, the physical equipment, that we have records of, over the last nine years incarcerated individuals were charged almost $500,000,” Shepack said. 

Shepack said the average culinary worker, who makes $463 a year, has to pay for ServSafe cards for culinary workers, which cost between $10 to $20. 

“That can be anywhere from a month to three months pay for an individual,” he said. “There is no reason why the state should not be picking up the cost of these cards.”

Assembly Bill 121 mandated the director to submit a study “and any evidence or data” that justify the decision as well as required the department to refill prescriptions in a timely manner and ensure  people who are incarcerated fill out medical release forms.

Adding protections around inmate mail came after the previous director attempted to prohibit certain mail, including greeting cards and colored drawings. 

The idea was proposed to crackdown on contraband entering facilities, despite zero evidence showing the need for the restriction.

Hocking said there wasn’t any issue with implementing the sections around the mail reforms.

However, she said there were aspects of AB 121 “that aren’t being implemented as smoothly.”

The thought behind the legislation, she said, was to ensure medications were automatically refilled without people submitting a request with the medical department. 

The post Advocates, lawmakers laud progress on implementation of prison reforms appeared first on Nevada Current.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

The Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH) is turning to alternative measures to provide more forensic beds and services after a deal with the City of Las Vegas soured, leaving DPBH to pay a $500 fine  for each day a person in need of mental health treatment is in jail instead of under care. 

The deal would have created 44 new forensic beds at the Las Vegas Detention Center, with $55.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds earmarked for the project. Now the state must reallocate those funds by the end of the year or lose them. The state is working to reassign those funds to new programs including those highlighted at the DPBH Commission on Behavioral Health meeting earlier this month that divert people to services outside of forensic hospitals. 

Delays in getting people into forensic psychiatric care can exacerbate mental health conditions. Forensic psychiatric beds aim to provide mental health care in a correctional setting and reduce the risk of recidivism in the least restrictive manner, stabilizing a person who is waiting for their case to be adjudicated or an assessment for competency to stand trial.

As of  Feb. 15, 123 individuals needed competency-related services in jails in Nevada, waiting an average of 103 days from the time they receive a court order for admission to one of the two appropriate state facilities, according to DPBH. 

One of the programs highlighted at at this month’s Commission on Behavioral Health meeting includes a diversion program operated by Lake Crossings, one of the two state hospitals serving court-ordered patients. 

Program staff visits people on the waitlist at Washoe and Clark County jails for alternative services outside of forensic hospitalization, said Drew Cross, the statewide coordinator of forensic programs, during a DPBH Commission on Behavioral Health meeting last week. 

DPBH has also allocated some  $4.9 million of ARPA funding to Stein Forensic Hospital in Las Vegas, the other state hospital providing court-ordered mental health services, to refurbish 20 beds, which should be ready by July 2025, according to DPBH. 

The remaining ARPA funds need to be allocated by Dec. 2024 and used by Dec. 2026, otherwise, the funds will return to the federal government. 

The 2023 Nevada Legislature approved funding to design a new forensic hospital building that is currently slated to add 282 forensic beds. Funding for construction will be considered in the next legislative session, according to DPBH. 

The jail conversion program was originally slated to be ready last summer, state officials told the Legislative Interim Finance Committee in October 2022. 

After delays, DPBH hoped renovations of the jail would be completed by December 2024. But cooperation between the city and state quickly turned to squabbling. DPBH reported that the two government entities “were unable to reach a mutually acceptable lease agreement for use of the jail space.” 

In his 2023 State of the State Address, Gov. Joe Lombardo described the need for additional forensic mental services as “critical,” and noted his budget included funds for the Las Vegas jail conversions as well as upgrades to the Rawson-Neal facility in Las Vegas, which has a portion of its hospital dedicated to forensic beds, and the creation of the new facility in Southern Nevada. 

The governor’s office did not respond to inquiries about the failure of the Las Vegas jail conversion, the fines paid by DPBH, or the delay in creating new beds.

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(Photo: Nevada Department of Corrections)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

The medical director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, Dr. Kenneth Williams, has no medical license in Nevada, the state’s Board of Medical Examiners confirmed Friday. The board’s investigator did not respond to requests for comment.

“Dr. Williams is currently licensed in Tennessee,” NDOC assistant director William Quenga said Friday in an interview. “He is currently ongoing to get his medical license and he’s working with the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.”

Doctors licensed in other states can be endorsed by that state as a means of expediting licensure in Nevada. However, they cannot practice in Nevada in the interim.  

“This position requires licensure by the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners as a physician or administrative physician,” says the state’s job solicitation for the position. 

Under Nevada law, practicing medicine without a license is a category D felony. 

“I don’t believe he’s practicing medicine,” Assistant Director William Quenga said Friday, adding that NDOC Director James Dzurenda, who appointed Williams to his position in August 2023, is aware Williams has no license and is “talking with the Nevada medical board.” 

Nevada Revised Statute 630 says doctors who work in an administrative capacity are required to have an administrative license, which Williams does not have, according to the Board of Medical Examiners. They “may not engage in the practice of clinical medicine.”   

The State of Nevada’s job solicitation for the position says the “Medical Director is the clinical health authority for the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC); responsible for clinical and medical determinations within the department.”

The position pays up to $217,000 a year, the job solicitation says.

Additionally, the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City has a hospice. NRS 449.196 says “No person, state or local government or agency may represent that it provides ‘hospice care’ unless the program of care, either directly or indirectly has a medical director whose responsibilities are appropriate to the needs of the program and who is a physician, currently licensed to practice.”

Health providers who work for NDOC, including those who inquired with the Board of Medical Examiners about Williams’ status, say he is practicing medicine. 

“I think not having a license invalidates a lot of decisions he makes and there are concerns among providers because of that. I know he has participated in utilization reviews, and is making critical decisions that affect individual patient care,” said a provider who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. “Some doctors are not agreeing with some decisions, but it’s what  they’re being told to do, so they’re writing the order and they’re writing ‘per the medical director.’”

Another provider says Williams denied a request for sunscreen from an inmate who has skin cancer, noting it could be purchased from the commissary. 

“The guy won’t have any money. He won’t be able to buy it, and he’ll file a grievance. After a process he’ll ultimately file a lawsuit and we will lose that lawsuit,” the provider said. “Thousands of dollars will be paid out over sunscreen.”

As medical director of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Williams was sued when he refused to provide anti-viral medication to inmates diagnosed with Hepatitis C. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which found in Williams’ favor, upholding a lower court’s ruling that he did not act with “deliberate indifference” but rather, in an effort to use the finite resources at his disposal where they could be used for the maximum benefit.  

Earlier this month, an inmate at High Desert State Prison near Indian Springs filed a lawsuit against Williams and the NDOC, alleging Williams and the medical staff have promised but failed to provide care for painful bullet wounds.  

Quenga of NDOC said he was unaware of the lawsuit.

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Critical Incident Teams (CIT) training, once perceived as a touchy-feely approach to policing, is now mandated by some departments, including Metro. (Getty Images)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Michael DiVicino grew up despising law enforcement. 

“When I was roughly the age of five or six, I woke up to a commotion in my household. I’m scared. I’m confused. I see the door kicked in, and I see my father being dragged out of the house in handcuffs,” DiVicino said Wednesday to a class of law enforcement officers and hotel security officials learning how to respond to individuals in a crisis. “I later understood it was the FBI. I didn’t have the mental capacity at the time to contemplate that maybe there was some illegal activity going on in the house. It’s easier to blame someone else. Law enforcement became the object of my discontent. Law enforcement became my enemy.”

DiVicino, now 61, cycled in and out of correctional facilities since he was 12 years old.  In 2019, after serving 29 years on multiple life sentences involving the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, he found himself the unlikely recipient of parole.

“I was scared to death to get out of prison. Institutionalization is a very real thing,” DiVicino told the class. Exacerbated by post-traumatic stress and paranoia wrought from decades of incarceration, his greatest fear upon release was an encounter with the law. “We were basically taught to distrust law enforcement. I’ve been wired this way my whole life.”

“We’ve never really had an opportunity to talk to ex-cons that come out of prison,” Andy DiPalma, a retired Las Vegas Metro cop who now works for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), said in an interview. “We might see them on a call but our defenses are up. Their defenses are up.”

But in a classroom setting, DiVicino and others are “able to feel more comfortable talking about the past, ” DiPalma says of NAMI’s Sharing Your Story with Law Enforcement program, part of a 40-hour training session on crisis intervention. “It’s designed for anyone with a mental health challenge who has had a police contact to come in and talk about how officers can approach them a little bit more safely or find something like common ground.”

Critical Incident Teams (CIT) training, once perceived as a touchy-feely approach to policing, is now mandated by some departments, including Metro, thanks to a 2017 edict from then-Sheriff Joe Lombardo, now governor of Nevada. 

DiPalma, who was a hostage negotiator at Metro, has been CIT certified since 2006 and conducts the training sessions on behalf of NAMI.

“Memphis police started this in the late 80s when they shot and killed an unarmed mentally ill person,” DiPalma says. “CIT is supposed to be on a volunteer basis, which makes absolute sense if you want the people that are most empathetic. However, Metro averages 130 CIT calls a day.” 

A policy called Legal 2000 allows first responders to transfer a person to a mental health facility for 72 hours if they appear to pose a danger to themselves or others. Metro imposes about 30,000 legal holds a year, according to DiPalma. “Nevada is number 51 of all the states when it comes to mental health resources. Our largest mental health facility is the Clark County Detention Center.”

NAMI says some 2,700 communities nationwide have embraced CIT as a means of identifying mental health issues and resources, and reducing arrests. NAMI helps CIT programs expand by making mental health providers, community leaders, and volunteers such as DiVicino available to law enforcement.

Studies indicate CIT improves attitudes and knowledge about mental illness among law enforcement officials. In Memphis, CIT resulted in an 80% decrease in officer injuries. 

In some cities, CIT has helped reduce the amount of time officers spend responding to mental health-related calls, and saved money by diverting individuals, such as the unhoused, from the criminal justice system and into treatment.

‘A very tough job’

DiVicino realized his worst fear – an encounter with police – while riding his bicycle in the wrong direction in Las Vegas shortly after his release from prison. As he turned into his apartment complex, he noticed the hood of a black and white patrol car. The patrol car “swooped around” as he dismounted, DiVicino told the class. “I’m hypervigilant because of the PTSD and the paranoia. The officer jumps out, very pumped up.”  

Shaking and armed with nothing more than a backpack full of food and water and unaware of his offense, DiVicino says he too, was pumped up, but obeyed the command to place his hands on the patrol car as police dispatch informed the officer of DiVicino’s record.

“He draws his gun and goes for his speaker and asks for back up,” DiVicino recalls. “He tells me he’s never met anyone who’s been in a penitentiary as long as me.” 

The incident ended peacefully, DiVicino reported to the class, with police letting him off the hook for riding in the wrong direction in the bike lane. “I can’t have anyone behind me,” he says, chalking it up to decades in prison. “It’s a big problem.”

DiVicino asks the class if anyone would have handled the stop differently. “We’re all profiling, no matter who we are. Is that the way to react to someone who’s been caged for 30 years?” 

Some in the class suggest the officer was heavy-handed, which draws DiPalma into the discussion.

“That is a proper response,” DiPalma says of the officer’s actions. “It’s not skin color. It’s not clothing. He (DiVicino) is a violent felon.” 

DiVicino generally gets good reviews from the class. He’s engaging, informative, and genuine. But he has stumbled. Once, during a discussion of police shootings, he asked the class members not to “shoot first and ask questions later.”

“He got hammered,” DiPalma says of the ensuing exchanges in the class and the critique participants complete following the training. “To cops, that’s like calling an Italian a derogatory term. Or calling a Black person the ‘N’ word. He’s gotten better at it. I use Mike for all my training.”  

“A majority of people I know are the guys that did a lot of time. And I hear all the time ‘I’m not going back to prison,’” DiVicino tells the class, suggesting ex-cons would rather fight to the death than be locked up. “There are a lot of individuals brought up to distrust law enforcement and you guys got a very tough job.”

DiVicino is hoping to spread the word of his unlikely friendship with DiPalma and his newfound respect for authority. He currently speaks to incarcerated youth at Spring Mountain Youth Camp, and he’s hoping to gain permission from the Clark County School District to bring his ‘Letters from Prison’ initiative into schools.  

DiVicino’s second post-release encounter with police came during a traffic stop. When the patrol car behind him “lit up” on a busy street, he pulled into the parking lot of a WalMart. Two officers approached him with their hands on their weapons. They informed him that pulling off the street and into a parking lot suggested he was setting them up for an ambush. 

DiVicino tells the class the incident illustrates the challenges law enforcement faces daily to find the sweet spot between an appropriate response and a safe one. “You never know who you’re going to encounter.”.  

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(Photo: Ronda Churchill/Nevada Current)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

A lawsuit accuses Clark County School District of being “deliberately indifferent” to a Las Vegas High School student who was beaten in her geometry class in February 2022.

Law firms Bertoldo Carter Smith & Cullen and Robert L. Langford & Associates filed the case, Lainez Lemus v. CCSD, in Clark County District Court. They allege the school district violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of a student, identified by her initials in court documents. ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah is serving as an advisor. 

Cell phone footage of the attack was widely shared on social media and made national headlines. It shows the student being punched by another student more than a dozen times in the back of her head without intervention. The attacker, who had a history of violence, returned to school after being removed for disciplinary problems before the attack against the plaintiff, according to the lawsuit.

The student suffered serious injuries to her body and nervous system that continued to cause her pain, suffering, and disability, which was a result of the “negligence by school and district leaders.”

“CCSD’s actions here have destroyed a young girl’s life,” attorney Robert Langford said in a statement announcing the suit.

Langford told the Current he hopes the lawsuit sheds light on CCSD’s policy for reintegrating back into classrooms students with histories of violence, and how the district plans to protect students and teachers in the future.

“Our position is that there needs to be a process where the violent student shouldn’t be placed in a classroom,” Langford said. 

While CCSD has a responsibility for educating students with violent tendencies, they must do so while ensuring the safety of other students and staff, he added. 

Langford said the state law is clear that every student has a right to a safe and respectful learning environment and this lawsuit begs the question of what CCSD could have done to prevent this attack from happening. 

CCSD through its communications office said the district does not comment on pending litigation.

The case was filed two years after the incident to allow the student who was attacked to receive treatment, Langford told the Current. In addition to the student’s physical injuries, Langford said, she has also suffered mental trauma, has not returned to school, and struggles within the “simplest of social settings.”

“You go to school and get beaten down and then can’t walk back through those doors and trust that everything will be just fine,” Langford said. “The sad thing is what is done is done, and you pick up the pieces as best you can…but this will always be a part of her and her family.”

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