Not Fit for Human Consumption or Habitation: Nevada's Prisons in Crisis

When should we be concerned? After how many letters from prisoners? How many anecdotes from family members? From inmate advocates? How many news stories?

The state of Nevada’s prisons has been troubling the ACLU of Nevada for a long time. We have expressed concern over medical care, conditions of confinement, and treatment by guards at numerous facilities, and we filed a class action lawsuit about the medical care at Ely State Prison. With everything we had heard, we wanted to know how Nevada’s prisons objectively measured up.

The ACLU of Nevada and the national ACLU Human Rights Project sponsored Rebecca Paddock on a Prisoner Rights Fellowship in 2010 to examine the conditions in Nevada's prisons through an international human rights lens. To complete her fellowship, Ms. Paddock authored a white paper "Not Fit for Human Consumption or Habitation: Nevada's Prisons in Crisis,” which was distributed to legislators, government officials, professors, and the general public.