Nevada lawmakers question claim that inmate overdoses are driving prison overtime costs

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Officials from the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) said that skyrocketing overdoses are one of the main drivers behind overtime expenses that have cost the state more than $18 million annually, although lawmakers expressed some skepticism at that explanation for prisons’ chronic budget overruns.

In just a few years, overdoses in Nevada prisons have increased nearly tenfold, according to prisons director James Dzurenda, who attributed the problem in part to drugs sneaked in through mail. In 2021, the department only had 12 overdoses, dipping to five overdoses in 2022. In 2025, that number catapulted to 127 overdoses to date out of the system’s nearly 11,000 total inmates.

There have been nine fatal overdoses this year so far, according to data shared by the department, up from a peak of two overdoses deaths in 2022.

Out of the seven homicides in the prison system this year, six were related to the synthetic drug problem, Dzurenda added during a meeting of the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee on Thursday.

Synthetic drugs seek to mimic the effect of other illicit substances, such as cocaine or LSD, but have different chemical compounds. They are mostly unregulated and untested.

Historically, the department has not tracked overdoses, categorizing overdose deaths as “accidental,” an NDOC spokesperson, Teri Vance, told The Indy last week. Dzurenda testified that he recently solicited a study into overdoses in the system.

“We have to stop this. This is a lot of our big driver in our emergency hospital trips,” Dzurenda testified.

NDOC has long struggled with the cost of overtime, which it uses to alleviate chronic staffing shortages. From 2020 to 2024, NDOC saw more than a 130% increase in overtime hours, leading to a $35 million increase in overtime costs, a recent state audit found. More than 80% of overtime costs were related to “offender management,” according to the audit.

Dzurenda contended that one of the largest reasons for the growth is an increased need for transporting inmates who have overdosed to medical treatment. This, in turn, takes away time for officers to cover standard shift duties, he added.

During the legislative session, there were about 67 staff members per day working overtime to help with offenders’ medical treatment. That number has now risen to about 80 staff members per day, he said.

“The overtime costs are still going up,” Dzurenda said.

Dzurenda partly attributed the overdose increase to the rise of synthetic drugs, such as wasp killer, in local prisons. He said that people are sneaking drugs into the jail by lacing ink with drugs. That ink will then be printed on to mail, such as reprinted legal documents or letters, making it very difficult to detect.

“We can’t refuse or reject legal mail. We have to let it in.”

Such use of synthetic drugs has begun to emerge as a national trend in state prisons. In the past year, NDOC has used more than 40 cases of the overdose reversal drug Narcan (each which contains 40 bottles), but it often won’t work on synthetic drugs, he said. One of the main ways to limit synthetic drugs is through scanning mail, so inmates can read them on a device instead of physically. Such a scanner can cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars, Dzurenda said.

Dzurenda said that the Legislature in 2023 passed a bill that complicated efforts to crack down on drugs by requiring the department to provide incarcerated people with original, physical copies of mail. Proponents of the legislation argued that moving to photocopies or digital communication further eroded ties between prisoners and family members who send them cards or drawings.

But lawmakers questioned during the IFC meeting if overdoses were the explanation behind overtime expenses. The agency had received hundreds of thousands in federal pandemic relief funding toward operations and a mail scanner in recent years. Meanwhile, staff vacancy rates have decreased by nearly 35% from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2024, while overtime rates have gone up.

“I am shocked that we are sitting here again,” said Sen. Rochelle Nyguen, D-Las Vegas. "The cause of the overtime is now not staffing issues, but is now mail.”

Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, said that during the hearing she texted the governor to add language about the overdose issue to his marquee crime bill ( SB457 ), which he has alluded to reviving during an expected, upcoming special session of the Legislature. In its initial form, Lombardo’s bill proposed expanding several opioid use disorder programs and substance abuse treatment programs for inmates.

During the IFC hearing, Dzurenda requested nearly $350,000 to fund the costs of another comprehensive operation study.

“This is the last time. You all need to get it right. There’s not a lot of money out there to keep throwing away,” Monroe-Moreno said.

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Eric Neugeboren contributed to this reporting.

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This story was originally published by The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.