A class action lawsuit has been filed against the state, the state governor, and the Department of Corrections for allegedly denying adequate medical care to inmates in Nevada's maximum security Ely State Prison. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Reno and claims the state prison lacks the most basic elements of an adequate prison health care system and deprives prisoners of the minimal civilized measure of life's necessities.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of nearly 1,000 inmates and claims extreme deprivations subject confined prisoners to constant significant risk of serious injury, medical harm, and premature death. In December 2007, a medical report documented how gravely ill prisoners at Ely were routinely denied treatment for excruciatingly painful and potentially fatal medical conditions. Nevada's Board of State Prison Commissioners later rejected an ACLU proposed consent decree that included a series of basic reforms that would have dramatically improved prison health care, including complying with nationally recognized standards for correctional health care.
