While looking into urgent concerns of overcrowding at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, shared with her by current inmates, emailing back and forth with local officials and making public records requests, activist Annemarie Grant was recently sent a packet which revealed in one message that “there is a need to get an accurate and authorized occupancy number for our detention facility.”
Grant’s brother died at the jail in 2015 after being hog tied and struggling with deputies. Earlier, he had been found on the ground of the Peppermill Casino lying on the ground in the parking lot, handcuffed by security guards before police arrived.
In 2018, Washoe County Commissioners approved a $100,000 settlement with Purdy’s family to resolve their wrongful death complaint, after they received $25,000 from the City of Reno and $50,000 from the Peppermill in two other settlements.
Since her brother’s death, Grant has been attending yearly protests with families of relatives killed by local law enforcement, while being active on many fronts trying to improve conditions at the Washoe County jail and the local conduct of law enforcement.
The email from Robert Charles from June this year, then still the Fire Safety Officer at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, indicated “we would appreciate it if we could establish a date and time to come investigate the facility and make an accurate determination of what our total capacity is for the detention facility as well as individual cells that currently hold more than one detainee.”
The message, which was sent to Patty Blakely, in the first paragraph underlines that “we have obviously grown in inmate numbers exponentially over the years, with no end in sight.”
Blakely is listed as working for Fire Prevention for the City of Reno.
The email points to more uncertainty, indicating “we want to observe the fire code & Fire Marshals established capacity numbers from the point of determining said numbers, as well as moving forward for growth or diversion of detainees when we are at capacity.”
Charles wrote the email as he was preparing to leave his position, effective July 14th.
Grant has raised related concerns, such as one inmate indicating three to four inmates are often crammed in a cell awaiting classification.
In other correspondence, Dale Way, the Deputy Fire Chief with Truckee Meadows and Rescue, explained to Grant that “the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in its entirety at 911 Parr Blvd is under the jurisdiction of the City of Reno.”
City of Reno Fire Marshal Tray Palmer emailed Grant last week, ccing Captain Willie Seirer, with this wording: “An inspector has been assigned to investigate this, and has made contact with Sheriff's Department. The Occupant load was set at time of construction through our building department and utilized the code that was adopted at time of construction. We are attempting to pull these records to verify what code the cells were designed to.”
Grant then wrote about exposed electrical outlets and defective doors inside which could become a fire hazard in case of urgent exits for inmates.
Grant hopes the investigations do happen, but she is still concerned whether or not there will be meaningful change. In a follow up with Our Town Reno, she said: “I feel this is a very serious issue and needs the state Fire Marshal’s involvement to conduct a thorough investigation. And I’d like to remind the Washoe County Commissioners they have a duty under NRS 211.020 and are responsible for the inspecting of any county jail. As well as a duty to their community members.”
After not getting new responses and sending more emails, Palmer finally wrote back to her on July 17th: “This email is not a forum for opinion.” He asked Grant to make future requests through Reno Direct.
Grant wrote to us: “This email chain is when I began to attempt to report my concerns about the overcrowding/occupancy limits at the WCSO. Given the WCSO denied my request for a copy of the occupancy certificate I wasn’t exactly sure where to turn.”