Former Nevada prisons chief returning under Gov. Lombardo

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former Nevada state prisons chief who left the place in 2019 is returning to the publish below newly inaugurated Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.

James Dzurenda headed the state Division of Corrections for 3 years below then-Gov. Brian Sandoval, additionally a Republican. He resigned in July 2019 below Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat.

Ben Kieckhefer, chief of employees to Lombardo, confirmed Friday that Dzurenda will return to go the division. Kieckhefer didn’t present Dzurenda’s begin date.

Nevada state prisons have been beset in current months by inmate violence, staffing shortages, the escape in September of a person convicted of a 2007 bombing in a parking construction at a Las Vegas Strip on line casino and the resignation in October of the prisons chief who had the job for nearly three years.

Dzurenda will take over for William Gittere, who has been appearing director because the departure of Charles Daniels.

Gittere in November ordered one state jail in Carson Metropolis closed as a security, staffing and cost-cutting measure. He stated it might let directors increase staffing at different amenities and reduce extra time and division operational prices by about $14 million a yr.

Lombardo, a Republican former Clark County sheriff and head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division, was elected in November to exchange Sisolak, who served one time period. Lombardo was sworn in on Monday and held an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

After leaving the Nevada prisons chief place, Dzurenda served stints as corrections division marketing consultant in North Las Vegas and sheriff of Nassau County on Lengthy Island in New York.

The Nevada Division of Corrections has nearly 10,000 inmates and about 2,850 workers at seven establishments, 9 conservation camps and two transitional housing facilities.