Jodi Hocking, founder of the nonprofit inmate advocacy group Return Strong, helped present a bill that would create an Office of the Ombudsman — impartial and independent of the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) — that would manage grievances filed by prisoners that adversely affect the health, safety, welfare and rights of those in custody. The office would be under the administration of the attorney general. 

The strike, which began on Dec. 1, includes 39 prisoners who sometimes eat and then return to the hunger strike, according to prison officials, but advocates say they expect more people in facilities across the state will join.

The Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) wants incoming mail, particularly greeting cards and colored drawings, to be converted into digital copies for prisoners’ tablets or kiosks in common areas. They said the new policy is meant to prevent drugs hidden in colored paper, dye or ink, from entering prison walls.

An independent report commissioned by Nevada's governor and legislative leaders has recommended an action that inmate advocacy groups long supported but was never implemented — that the state should deliberately reduce its prison population to address current and future pandemics. 

The Nevada Department of Corrections temporarily paused all visits as a “precaution” amid rising COVID-19 cases, so far in January, 209 inmates and 210 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.

Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) Director Charles Daniels announced Tuesday that the department is planning to reopen visitation for inmates starting on May 1. The department originally suspended visitation on March 7, 2020, when there were growing concerns that COVID-19 could be spread to the state’s prison population.

Two major variables for the bill’s future are whether a death penalty ban can survive in the Senate, where two prosecutors hold key leadership positions at the head of the entire Senate and the Senate Judiciary Committee and have the power to kill the bill, and whether Gov. Steve Sisolak would sign such a bill if it makes it to his desk.

“This isn't about partisan politics. It's about fighting for the survival of people and seeing the humanity in those who are not defined by the worst thing they've ever done,” said Leslie Turner of the Mass Liberation Project, which is affiliated with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. “And we all should believe that COVID-19 shouldn't be a death sentence for anyone, including those who are incarcerated.”