Nevada corrections officers and union leaders are warning that the state prison system is drowning in overtime costs and running on fumes when it comes to staffing, telling lawmakers that the current situation is unsafe for both staff and incarcerated people. A spike in hospital runs, medical emergencies and drug overdoses, they said, has turned mandatory overtime into a constant reality that the agency cannot afford and officers cannot sustain. Union officials cautioned that the growing overtime bill is already slicing into the department’s budget and could make dangerous conditions worse if lawmakers do not step in with more funding and structural fixes.
Numbers spell trouble
At a recent Interim Finance Committee meeting, lawmakers were told that the Nevada Department of Corrections shelled out more than $18 million in overtime from July through September 2025, which is about $7.4 million more than the previous quarter and the highest quarterly overtime total in at least two years, according to The Nevada Independent. That outlet also reported a sharp rise in deaths and overdoses in Nevada prisons in 2025, with officials tying those emergencies to an increase in off site medical coverage that is heavily overtime driven.
Auditors flag payroll failures
A review by the state’s Division of Internal Audits, released in July, found long running problems with payroll coding and oversight that could cost Nevada as much as $18.5 million a year if left unchecked. The review documented thousands of timesheets riddled with errors or unexplained overtime entries. Those findings, detailed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, pointed to a mix of technical mistakes and chronic staffing shortages that have left the department leaning on overtime again and again.
Union leaders sound the alarm
Leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 21 told the Interim Finance Committee that the real problem is not bad coding in the payroll system, it is the number of empty posts on prison floors. They pointed to a third party staffing study that recommended adding more than 700 positions across the system. Union president Paul Lunkwitz told lawmakers that Director James Dzurenda has been too gentle in pushing the Legislature for help and urged much faster action to safeguard officers and inmates, according to The Nevada Independent.
Medical escorts and ink laced mail
Both auditors and corrections officials say off site medical trips are one of the biggest drivers of overtime. The Division of Internal Audits found nearly 94,000 overtime hours tied to medical supervision in 2024, a staggering total that reflects how often officers are being pulled from regular posts to guard patients. At the same time, agency leaders have sounded the alarm about overdoses linked to synthetic drugs getting into facilities. Lawmakers also heard complaints that a 2023 law, AB 121, which requires prisons to deliver original physical mail to people in custody, makes it harder to screen out drug soaked letters and cards. For details on that requirement, see the Nevada Legislature and the audit materials.
Lawmakers and the budget
This year, legislators approved only a partial funding package for state collective bargaining agreements, including retention bonuses and modest cost of living bumps, through a measure detailed by the Nevada Legislature as AB 596. Union representatives say that deal falls short of what was negotiated at the table and will not come close to filling deep staffing gaps in the near term. That funding gap, they argue, helps explain why overtime costs remain sky high even after policy tweaks and targeted hiring efforts.
What comes next
In its materials for the Interim Finance Committee, the Department of Corrections said it plans to restart a formal overtime reduction plan, add quarterly reporting on sick leave, reassign certain positions and require wardens to sign off on overtime requests. Those steps track closely with recommendations from state auditors and are spelled out in the agency’s own meeting packet. Both the department and lawmakers say that recruiting and training new officers will be crucial over the coming months. Union leaders counter that without immediate money for more frontline staff, the state will stay stuck in the same cycle of punishing overtime, spiraling costs and mounting safety risks inside Nevada’s prisons.
