Ely State Prison (ESP) is a

maximum security Maximum Security may refer to: * Supermax, "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons * Maximum Security (comics), a comic book miniseries published by Marvel Comics * ''Maximum Security'' (Tony MacAlpine album), 1987 * ''Maximum Security'' ...

penitentiary located in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

White Pine County,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, about north of Ely. The facility, operated by the

Nevada Department of Corrections The Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) is a governmental agency in the U.S. state of Nevada. The NDOC headquarters is located on the property of the Stewart Indian School in Carson City. History In 1862, the first prison in Nevada was crea ...

, opened in July 1989. the prison has a staff of 406 and is a major employer in the Ely area. As of September 2010, the prison housed 1,077 male inmates. The state's

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

for men is located at Ely State Prison, as is the

execution chamber An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death r ...

, which opened in 2016.

History

Residents of

Ely, Nevada Ely (, ) is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. In 1906 copper was discovered. Ely's mining boom came later than ...

spent a year and $25,000

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...

for the prison to be built in the area. On December 19, 1985, the prison was unanimously approved by the finance committees of the

Nevada Legislature The Nevada Legislature is a bicameral body, consisting of the lower house, the Assembly, with 42 members, and the upper house, the Senate, with 21. With a total of 63 seats, the Legislature is the third-smallest bicameral state legislatur ...

to be built in the Ely area. The prison opened in July 1989. Phase I was completed and opened in August of that year. Phase II was completed November 1990. Originally Ely had a capacity of 1,054; as of 2010 its capacity is for 1,150. The prison has a staff of 406 and is a major employer in the Ely area.

Allegations of inadequate medical care and ACLU lawsuit

Ely State Prison was the recipient of numerous criticisms by the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

(ACLU) regarding its alleged failure to provide adequate medical care to its inmates. Dr. William Noel, a medical expert retained by the ACLU, produced a report in December 2007 that described his review of the medical records of 35 prisoners from ESP. He wrote that "the medical care provided at Ely State Prison amounts to the grossest possible

medical malpractice Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The negligen ...

, and the most shocking and callous disregard for human life and human suffering, that I have ever encountered in the medical profession in my thirty-five years of practice." His report describes in detail the death of Patrick Cavanaugh, an inmate who he claims died due to complications of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, after having received no

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...

for a period of three years and having his ulcerated legs left to fester without treatment or

amputation Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...

. The report also mentions accounts of wholly untreated cases of

chronic pain Chronic pain is classified as pain that lasts longer than three to six months. In medicine, the distinction between Acute (medicine), acute and Chronic condition, chronic pain is sometimes determined by the amount of time since onset. Two commonly ...

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a medical condition defined by the presence of chronic widespread pain, fatigue, waking unrefreshed, cognitive symptoms, lower abdominal pain or cramps, and depression. Other symptoms include insomnia and a general hyp ...

,Noel, p. 5

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...

and syphilis. The report also notes cases in which an epileptic patient was not regularly equipped with a helmet; in which a stroke sufferer was not given any physical therapy nor even an arm brace to prevent the eventual contraction of his affected limb; and in which a patient was switched back to a potentially lethal medication. On January 23, 2008, the ACLU met with the Nevada State Board of Prison Commissioners seeking a consent decree which would voluntarily have let a federal court oversee prison medical care. Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons and other commissioners were presented with a report by NDOC Director Howard Skolnik and Medical Director Dr. Robert Bannister refuting Noel's findings. The commissioners rejected the ACLU's request. On March 6, 2009, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Corrections, Governor Gibbons and other state officials. In it, they sought to have a federal judge find that the Department of Corrections had not provided inmates with adequate medical care. The suit was settled in July 2010, with the NDOC agreeing to appoint an independent medical expert to monitor the prison's health care system and to submit regular reports evaluating officials' compliance with various medical requirements. It was also agreed that nurses would make daily rounds at the prison to pick up medical request forms and that inmates would have access to a registered nurse or higher level practitioner within 48 hours of requesting medical attention.

Men's death row and execution chamber

The men's death row is located at Ely. there are 81 prisoners on that death row. The state execution chamber at Ely was built in 2016. The

agreed to spend almost $860,000 to build it. A Las Vegas company, Kittrell Garlock & Associates, designed the chamber. The execution chamber was previously the prison courtroom, and it also functions as a private meeting place for attorneys. At that time no executions were scheduled due to a lack of execution drugs available. Previously executions by the state of Nevada were to be carried out at

Nevada State Prison Nevada State Prison (NSP) was a penitentiary located in Carson City. The prison was in continuous operation since its establishment in 1862 and was managed by the Nevada Department of Corrections. It was one of the oldest prisons still operatin ...

,Department Organization

Archive
.

. Retrieved on September 19, 2015. "At the present time the lawful method of execution is by means of lethal injection. The site of executions is still the chamber in the Nevada State Prison." even though the facility closed due to budget issues in 2012. In 2012 the department was considering a capital improvement program that would relocate the execution chamber from Nevada State Prison to Ely State Prison, which was later done in 2016.MINUTES Of the meeting of the BOARD OF PRISON COMMISSIONERS MEETING October 15, 2012
" Nevada Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 19, 2015. "The capital improvement program (CIP) to move the execution chamber to Ely State Prison is expected to take approximately 12 - 14 months and the CIP to move the tag plant to Northern Nevada Correctional Center is approximately 16 – 18 months. "

Notable inmates

References

External links

Ely State Prison
at the

(Official site) {{Authority control Prisons in Nevada Buildings and structures in White Pine County, Nevada Capital punishment in the United States Execution sites in the United States 1989 establishments in Nevada