2026

Posted on January 15, 2026 in MCO President's Updates by Adam Earley

Director Washington,

On behalf of the MCO membership, I want to address our concerns with the increasingly dangerous conditions that are occurring daily because of the Department’s lack of adequate segregation beds and Level 5 beds. It is a known fact that prisoners throughout the system are being housed in security levels lower than what their behavior and classification points call for. The Level 5 general population units have high percentages of prisoners that should be in Level 5 segregation. The Level 4 housing units across the state have very high percentages of Level 5 prisoners in them, and the Level 2 housing units have very high percentages of Level 4 prisoners in them, etc. on down the line. This improper placement continues to result in a strained system that is more dangerous for the frontline officers. Prisoners break the rules, including assaulting staff and each other, and accumulate points. But in most cases, there are no serious repercussions for doing so. The Department’s inability to properly place them in segregation or a higher security level has effectively eliminated any deterrent for bad and dangerous behavior. The prisoner population is just as aware of the Department’s lack of segregation and Level 5 bed space as the officers are, and it emboldens them to have a nonchalant attitude about receiving aIn many cases, prisoners on this status continue to be uncooperative, disruptive and assaultive. Keeping them in general population units, even if on special status that mirrors segregation status, is disruptive to the routine operation of the general population units and results in increased dangers to officers due to the lack of the physical controls and additional officers that would be present in a segregation unit. The continued use of this CPH status is a clear acknowledgement that the Department currently does not have enough segregation space to accommodate the high number of prisoners that refuse to follow rules and are a danger to officers and other prisoners. The most recent example of an officer getting seriously assaulted by a prisoner on CPH status, who should have been in segregation, occurred last week at the Carson City Correctional Facility. Luckily, the officer survived the attack. There are many more examples in recent months from around the state where officers and prisoners were assaulted by prisoners that should have been in segregation already or housed in a higher security level unit.

We are aware that your administration is in the process of reviewing the Confinement Pending Hearing status for prisoners that commit serious rule violations. While we can appreciate the fact that your efforts are focused on trying to make sure that the process is uniform across the state to ensure policy compliance, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re still going to have operational disruption and increased danger in the general population units due to placing prisoners on segregation status in them. With the staffing crisis, it is already common for these general population units to be short staffed on a daily basis. Adding segregation-type responsibilities such as delivering meals, supplies, more frequent rounds, restrained escorts to showers or callouts, issuing property, etc. will only exacerbate the short staffing problems. Our Hearing Investigators and Grievance Coordinators are swamped with trying to keep up with the hearings processes. Our Transportation Officers are swamped with moving prisoners all over the state to alternate general population a space. (By the way, we would appreciate your support in getting these E10 classifications approved for the $1.30 per hour increase that was initially denied for them. It’s the right thing to do since the decision was made to give that pay increase to all custody supervisors even though there is no staffing crisis in the supervisory ranks.)

I am asking you and your administrative team to focus on making the prisons safe again. We need more segregation beds and more Level 5 beds. I have a couple of suggestions for you to consider- convert SLF to a full Level 5 facility with two seg units, convert ECF back to a Level 5 facility, convert one of the Level 4 units at IBC and DRF to full segregation units. The prison pendulum has been stuck on the rehabilitation and education side of the system for too long and we, the officers, need it to start swinging back toward the safety and security side of the system. There can be an even balance, and right now we don’t have it. We know that recidivism rates are important to you. Reduced recidivism can also be achieved by running safe and secure prisons where prisoners have an unpleasant stay when they decide not to follow the rules and are deterred from coming back into the system.

I hope that you will give these important topics some serious consideration and look forward to any discussion we may be able to have.

B. Osborn

MCO President