The new Ely Nevada State prison warden, Timothy Fillson, has been warden for a year and a half now. Prior to that, he was associate warden at High Desert State Prison, near Las Vegas, when several years ago, an inexperienced officer shot an inmate who later died.
Several correctional officers, sergeants and lieutenants told the Advocate that a few months ago the new warden installed a reduction of the officers hours to save money to impress the Nevada Director Department of Corrections and the Nevada Governor, changing the minimum standard and in effect created a more dangerous situation. He wanted to show that he could save more money than anybody else.
But on that same day that the murder of Sergio Chen occurred, the Director of the Nevada Department of corrections was talking on NPR how there were no problems regarding excessive use of overtime.
But the morale on the staff was and is very poor, and officers are leaving their jobs, but the prison is not hiring experienced people.
Regular peace officers start their job after they have completed eight weeks of training, and they learn effective prison guard skills and are Peace Officer Safety and Training (POST) certified. But they are hiring young men who just turned 21, and correction assistants who just turned 18, and puting them to work before the minimal training is completed, and they are asked to do similar tasks as the more experienced ones. It creates an atmosphere of total unprofessionalism and reduces the morale of the long term officers.
There is no policy of the operation that requires absolute consistency of the units and shifts. Some officers even said that the new warden “acts like the rules don’t apply to him, just because he is the warden, like in the old movie “Shawshank Redemption”.
The Advocate was also told that he took in his office death row inmates and that the secretaries were scared because those are high security. They also said that the warden pinned the event of the day of the murder on another officer. That this warden Fillson only gives verbal orders and requires his subordinates and his assistant, the associate warden, to implement his orders, without questions.
Below story Published in the High Desert Advocate April 26th, 2018
A Nevada inmate serving up to life in prison for kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault has been stabbed to death in a fight with two other inmates at the state prison in Ely.
Nevada Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Santina said last Wednesday that 32-year-old Sergio Chan was killed in an altercation at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The department’s inspector general is still investigating the incident at the Ely State Prison.
Santina says Chan was talking on the telephone when he was attacked by two other inmates who stabbed him multiple times.
Prison guards broke up the fight and medical staff and emergency responders were called to the scene. Chan was taken to the hospital where he later died of his injuries.
Chan had been at the prison since he was convicted in Clark County in 2003, and was at Ely State prison since February 4th, 2003. He was serving 29 years to life. An autopsy is underway. Investigators have identified the two suspects in this case. The investigation is ongoing.
