Carson City prisoner is fifth Nevada inmate to die since November

From: News3
Dec 19th 2013

CARSON CITY, Nev. (Las Vegas Sun) -- A prison inmate serving time for second-degree murder has died at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, the fifth inmate death in the Nevada Department of Corrections system since November.

Michael Johnson was in the medical center at the Carson City prison when he died Wednesday.

The state Department of Corrections said Thursday that Johnson, 55, had been in prison since 2008 and was serving a sentence of 10 years to life out of Churchill County.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy.

Johnson is the fifth Nevada prison inmate to die since early November.

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Corrections department flouts new law requiring autopsies for inmates who die in custody

In: Las Vegas Sun, Dec. 16, 2013

By: Ana Ley

More than two months after prison inmate Richard Ferst’s corpse was discovered inside a cell at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, it remains unexamined inside a cold chamber at a funeral home in Carson City.

Ferst’s mother, Sandy Morningstar of Las Vegas, hopes preserving the body will help reveal how her son died — something prison officials haven't explained.

Following her son's wishes, Morningstar wants to scatter Ferst’s ashes into the Pacific Ocean at Newport Beach, Calif., where he grew up. It was Ferst's favorite place.

“Because of their screwing around, my son is still in a refrigerator,” Morningstar said. “It's maddening.”
Ferst is one of four state prison inmates who died in October at the same facility under the care of the Nevada Department of Corrections. Officials never said whether a death investigation was requested in the cases. Three other prisoners have since died at other facilities, and autopsies revealed a cause and manner of death for two of them.

Relatives and civil rights advocates say they have grown increasingly frustrated by the prison system's lack of urgency in determining why some of the men died.

The Nevada Department of Corrections did not request a postmortem examination for Ferst after he died Oct. 5, even though a new state law, effective June 2, requires department officials to do so for any inmate who dies under prison care. The law was openly endorsed earlier this year by prisons director Greg Cox, who did not respond to requests for comment via the department's public information office.


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More news about the recent deaths in custody from Las Vegas Sun:

• Questions mount as state prison officials refuse to divulge causes in October deaths of four inmates
• Another Nevada prison inmate dies, the second in as many days

Nevada inmate dies at Las Vegas hospital

From: MyNews3, Dec. 18th 2013

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada inmate serving a life sentence has died at a Las Vegas hospital.
The Department of Corrections says 59-year-old John D. Jennings died Wednesday at Valley Hospital where he was being treated for a medical condition. No foul play is suspected. Prison officials say an autopsy will be conducted.

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Pre-approval of books for prisoners no longer necessary!

NDOC has advised NV-CURE that prisoner book request forms are no longer necessary. You may just have the books sent from the publisher or book seller in accordance with AR 750.