“Critical Labor Shortage” Declared at Two Rural Prisons in Nevada
On January 13, 2026, the Nevada Board of Examiners designated two rural prisons as experiencing a “critical labor shortage,” according to The Nevada Independent. The decision from the Board, a body that includes Nevada’s governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, allows the prisons—Ely State Prison in Pine County and Lovelock Correctional Center in Pershing County—to reinstate retired state workers to fill vacant staff positions until June of this year.
This is the second time in a two-year period that the state DOC has invoked the “critical labor shortage” designation. The entire state prison system fell under the designation for half of 2025, and it was applied to rural prisons from 2018 to 2022. The latest designation comes amid Nevada’s continued inability to hire enough prison guards, especially in rural areas. During the last fiscal year, paying overtime costs at understaffed prisons contributed to a DOC budget shortfall of $53 million.
At Lovelock Correctional Center, which has a total capacity of 1,680 prisoners, around 80 of the 200 guard positions are vacant; at Ely State Prison, one-third are unfilled, with some positions at both facilities having been open for six years. Neither prison has a permanent senior physician on staff, which means that prisoners need to be transferred for significant medical care.
On the same day that the labor shortage designations were announced, Nevada had also approved two settlements totalling $800,000 for prisoners who sued for receiving insufficient medical care. PLN has requested copies of both settlements and will report on them in a future issue.
Source: The Nevada Independent
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