Solitary confinement in Nevada: a snapshot

Nevada ranked second only to Utah in the percentage of individuals under solitary confinement, according to an August 2022 report published by the Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law School and the Correctional Leaders Association.

Time-in-Cell: 2021 reported Nevada’s percentage of incarcerated people held in solitary confinement (or “restrictive housing”) as 10.1 % compared to Utah’s 14.8 %. “

The report defines restrictive housing as confinement in cell for “22 hours or more on average a day for 15 days or more.” 

Co-authors compiled data from “the only longitudinal, nationwide database documenting the reported use of solitary confinement in prisons in the United States.”

They collected survey questionnaires over ten years from thirty-four state prison systems and the federal Bureau of Prisons, through July 2021.

The Nevada Department of Corrections (NVDOC) isolates individuals from the general population under “administrative segregation,” “disciplinary group segregation,” or “protective segregation.”

Of 1,059 persons in restrictive housing in NVDOC, Time-in-Cell listed 387 in “administrative segregation;” 274 by “personal choice;” 230 for “safety” reasons; 99 for “punishment;”66 for “other” reasons, and 3 for COVID-19.

Black women comprised 20 percent of the Total Custodial Population (TCP) yet were 30.1 percent of the Restrictive Housing Population (RHP). White women were 57.6 percent of TCP, but 45.5 percent of RHP. Similarly, Black males were 37.2 percent of TCP, but 37.7 percent of RHP.

Under “People with Serious Mental Illness in Restrictive Housing,” there was no data for Nevada.

According to The Guardian, the report reveals “the number of prisoners subjected to “restrictive housing,” as solitary is officially known, stood at between 41,000 and 48,000 in the summer of 2021. They were being held alone in cells the size of parking spaces, for 22 hours a day on average and for at least 15 days.”

In addition, since 2014, “the number of prisoners trapped in restrictive or administrative segregation …. was almost twice today’s level, at between 80,000 to 100,000.”

Authors attribute to this decrease to the efforts of people in confinement, communities, organizations (including organizations of correctional leaders), and legislators.

In 2013, Nevada lawmakers passed Senate Bill 107 (SB 107), which limited the segregation of children and mandated a legislative study of its use on adults. Facilities that detain children must report the number and length of time each child is held in solitary confinement to the Juvenile Justice Programs Office of the Division of Child and Family Services.

Nevada’s State Senator Pat Spearman (D-NLV), has sponsored criminal justice reform legislation, including SB 402 and SB 187, bills that specifically relate to the regulation of and limitations on NVDOC’s use of solitary confinement.

SB 402, enacted in 2017, prohibits imposing solitary unless an offender receives written notice of an infraction, has a hearing, and the issue is investigated. It also prohibits putting persons with serious mental illness in solitary confinement unless they pose a threat to themselves, staff, or others in custody.

However, says Senator Spearman, “there is nothing…. requiring (NVDOC) to give formal reports on such incidents.”

In March 2021, SB 187, co-sponsored by Spearman and two Republican state senators, failed to pass both houses of the Nevada legislature. It would have revised sections of NSR 209.369, to ensure that NVDOC uses solitary confinement only as a last resort for the shortest period possible, no longer than 30 days.

The bill also would have required NVDOC to prepare an annual report on their use of solitary confinement to the Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice. 

Asked whether NVDOC, in fact, does provide statistics and demographics on its use of solitary confinement, Spearman says, “No, they should do it. I always tell people if you want to get (data) for real, file a FOIA request. I have very little confidence that what’s supposed to be happening is happening.”

(A Freedom of Information Act request for NVDOC’s data on solitary confinement was unanswered as of the publication of this article.)

Meanwhile, two deaths at Nevada’s High Desert Prison (HDP) demonstrate the human toll of solitary confinement.

In September 2022, David Thompson, 38, and Deryl Dent, 32, committed suicide by hanging within two days of each other while in restrictive housing. Dent’s death on September 8 marked the seventh death at HDP in 2022.

According to Las Vegas’s 8 News Now, “records reveal that five inmates died by suicide, four of them due to hanging and one due to ligature strangulation.

The Nevada Globe, obtained a memo issued by retired HDP Warden Calvin Johnson, and that called for daily group tours by prison leaders and employees (including medical), deputy director tours, health and welfare count training for all staff, and supervisory oversight to ensure 30-minute irregular inspections in restrictive housing.

Dr. Michael Minev, HDP’s medical director, resigned September 30.

The deaths at HDP highlight the irreparable damage of solitary confinement. Research shows that mental deterioration increases when prisons limit or deny visits, phone calls, work assignments, recreation periods, or participation in programs or classes for those in solitary confinement.

In 2017 the ACLU of Nevada (ACLUNV) sent surveys to 749 people in Nevada prisons or conservation camps. Of the 281 respondents (261 males; twenty females), 55 percent indicated that they were in segregation, and almost all others had once been in segregation.

“On average, respondents reported that they spent 2.6 years in segregation and 47.7 percent reported that they had been in segregation three or more times during their current prison stay.”

 The report included an excerpt from a previous ACLUNV briefing paper on the clinical effects of solitary confinement, which included “hypersensitivity to stimuli; perceptual distortions and hallucinations; increased anxiety and nervousness; revenge fantasies; rage, and irrational anger; fears of persecution; lack of impulse control; severe and chronic depression ….”

            (ACLUNV refused a request to comment for this article.)

A 2019 report issued by the Vera Institute of Justice cited these findings,

·         Limited bed space in general population caused those cleared for release from segregation to wait prolonged periods for transfer back to general population.

·         NVDOC released a significant number of people directly into the community from administrative segregation, or within 30 days of having been in segregation.

·         Conditions in segregation were highly restrictive and allowed extremely limited out-of-cell time and little to no programming or congregate activity.

Senator Spearman says that she will continue her efforts for greater transparency, accurate data collection, less restrictive confinements, and improved services and programs.

“I wasn’t able to get (SB187) all the way through. I’ll bring it back again because it’s closing some of the loopholes that the NVDOC is using to not do what they’re supposed to do for solitary confinement.”

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