Editorial: Prison needs scrutiny

Saturday, April 8, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.

A vocational program director who was fired from the state women's prison in North Las Vegas says the dismissal happened just one day after she led a state assemblyman on a tour of the facility.

According to a story in Friday's Las Vegas Sun, Mary Hester was hired to head the vocational program at the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Center in May, and was still under the mandated 12-month probation period. Assemblyman Harvey Munford, D-Las Vegas, made a surprise visit to the prison Wednesday, and Hester gave him a tour. Munford spoke to a number of inmates who told him they weren't receiving basic medications, among other issues. Hester was fired Thursday without explanation.

It wasn't the first time inmates have complained about poor medication delivery. Inmates told the Sun in January that they were not receiving their medicines on time or, in some cases, at all. Prison officials at the time admitted there had been some initial problems stemming from the state centralizing its pharmacy services in December.

But medicine isn't the only issue. Hester filed a harassment complaint in March with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, claiming that prison staff members and administrators "undermined her ability to do her job." Hester is among five employees who, since January, have filed complaints against the state prison system with either the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, the Sun reports.

According to Friday's story by Sun reporter David Kihara, the complaints "paint a picture of a jail with poor oversight and bad management, fraught with inmate medical problems and managers who try to get revenge against employees who speak out." One employee said she was harassed after reporting a shortage of hygiene products for the inmates.

Prison officials told the Sun on Thursday that the problems created by the change in the pharmacy system had been fixed and declined to make further comment. But the public should know what is going on inside this facility, because the public pays for it.

We need a thorough, independent investigation and full public report regarding the inner workings of this facility. Prisons are places of punishment but also of rehabilitation, which can be successful only when inmates are treated with dignity.