THE November shooting of a handcuffed Nevada inmate by a corrections officer trainee has brought to light a number of unreported shootings at a facility where records indicate that guards have fired guns 215 times between 2007 to 2011.
Several inmates at High Desert State Prison – the facility where inmate Carlos Manuel Perez Jr. was killed and inmate Andrew Jay Arevalo was injured during a shooting in the shower hallway in November 2014 – have filed federal lawsuits, claiming they were shot at by guards breaking up mealtime scuffles, Associated Press reported.
At least three inmates involved in a January 2012 shooting incident have filed suit against the Nevada Department of Corrections, alleging negligence and civil rights violations.
Six months following the January incident, another inmate, Dario Olivas, became blind in one eye after a guard fired a shotgun to intervene in a fight between two other inmates in the dinner hall, according to a lawsuit filed by attorney Cal Potter.
“It’s a system out of control that doesn’t appear to be accountable to anyone,” Potter said, according to the Associated Press. “This calls out for some kind of accountability. I would hope the governor and attorney general would step forward and start answering questions.”
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has left the investigation of the shooting involving Perez and Arevalo in the hands of local, county and state authorities.
Nevada state Attorney General Adam Laxalt is involved in the investigation and is evaluating an investigative report, said spokeswoman Patty Cafferata.
State Sen. Richard Segerblom (D-Las Vegas) said he’s troubled by the shootings in the prison, according to the Associated Press.
“The shooting of a handcuffed inmate obviously raises red flags,” he said. “These are serious cases that need to be looked at. It could be systematic of the overall lack of resources we spend on prisons.”
Attorney Travis Barrick, who represents inmate Lawrence Evans who was involved in the January 2012 shooting, said the incidents that are now being realized indicate “a pattern and practice of excessive force in Nevada prisons.”
“There is zero accountability for what happens inside,” Barrick said. “Staff at the NDOC can make arbitrary and capricious decisions about conditions of confinement, and inmates have little or no recourse.”
The more than 200 shots fired at High Desert State Prison in the recent five-year period is nearly double the 124 shots reported in Nevada’s other 21 prisons.
The prison is Nevada’s largest facility, with nearly 4,200 medium- and high-risk prisoners.
Nevada Department of Corrections said it doesn’t comment on ongoing investigations, according to the Associated Press.
(With reports from Associated Press)
