Filing Complaints
The Nevada Department of Corrections has a vital and ongoing
responsibility to serve the citizens of the State of Nevada through the
effective, efficient, ethical, moral and lawful conduct of its employees. It is
essential that public confidence in the Department’s ability to investigate and
properly adjudicate complaints against its members be maintained. Any citizen, offender, employee, contractor,
volunteer or other person that believes an employee is involved in criminal
activity or other misconduct should submit a complaint. Complaints are accepted from any source, or
any medium, at any Department institution or facility by any employee. However,
the preferred method of submitting a complaint is through the Complaint Form
(DOC #1990). The form can be submitted by email to IG@DOC.NV.GOV, fax 725-216-6947, US Mail 3955
W. Russell Road, Las Vegas, NV 89118 or P.O. Box 7011, Carson City, NV
89702. Upon receiving a completed
DOC-1990 the Office of the Inspector General will review it for possible case
assignment. Based upon the review, the
complaint may be sent to the employee’s direct supervisor to address, without
further investigation. The rights of the
employee as well as the complainant must be preserved, and any investigation or
hearing arising from a complaint must be conducted in a fair manner consistent
with the U.S. Constitution, the Nevada Constitution, Nevada Revised Statutes
(NRS) court rulings and other applicable law. The objective of any
investigation is to find and report all material information for consideration. Material information is as follows:
- Material Information - Information that is
important, relevant, and could significantly impact the outcome of a criminal
trial, decision or other finding.
Material information Includes:
- Inculpatory Information – Information that tends
to suggest someone is guilty of misconduct.
- Exculpatory Information - Information that tends to prove someone is
innocent or suggests they are not liable for the alleged misconduct.
- Mitigating Information – Information that may
lessen the severity of the misconduct.
- Aggravating information – Information that may
increase the severity of the misconduct.
Criminal Investigations
If the matter involves serious criminal misconduct, the
Inspector General’s Office will assign a case number and an investigator. After completion of the criminal
investigation, it may be submitted to the Nevada Attorney General’s Office for
prosecution consideration. The Nevada
Attorney General’s Office makes the final determination on prosecution. Criminal Investigations can result in penalties
such as jail time, fines, probation, community service or other court ordered
penalties.
Administrative Investigations
If the complaint involves serious misconduct that is not
criminal, the Inspector General’s Office will assign an administrative case
number and an investigator. Upon
completion of the administrative investigation, it may be submitted to the
employee’s Division Head for adjudication and appropriate action. All notes,
records, recordings, findings or other information obtained from an
administrative investigation into a State Employee are confidential under NAC
284.718 (8) and shall not be disseminated to anyone unless authorized under NAC
284.726 (8) (a)(b)(c)(d), or by court order.
Upon request, the disposition of an administrative investigation into a
State Employee may be provided. The
possible dispositions of an administrative investigation are as follows:
- Sustained – Enough evidence was gathered to deem that
the misconduct occurred.
- Not Sustained – Evidence did not meet the threshold
of preponderance of the evidence.
- Preponderance of the Evidence means
evidence that enables a trier of fact to determine that the existence of
the contested fact is more probable than the nonexistence of the
contested fact (NRS 233B.0375).
- Unfounded - The alleged misconduct verifiably did not
occur.
Administrative investigations can result in penalties such
as a written reprimand, suspension, demotion, and termination of employment.