Vincent Valente, senior inspector with the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, briefed the Board of State Prison Commissioners on June 13 about the division's recent dietary and sanitation inspections of state correctional facilities.

Valente said the division's 2024 inspections found deficiencies in six prisons, citing problems such as improperly sanitized equipment, nonfunctioning high‑temperature dishwashers, culinary ovens that did not operate correctly, walking cooler failures, inadequate refrigeration capacity, plumbing and sewer issues, pests and defective laundry machines. He described corrective actions and said some repairs take longer timelines to complete.

"Common themes of the 2024 sanitation deficiencies identified among correctional facilities were lack of proper equipment sanitation, disabled and nonfunctioning dishwashers, nonworking culinary equipment… and presence of insects and rodents," Valente said. He noted the written report provided to the board is three pages long and that the division will continue to advise NDOC on infection prevention and control.

NDOC Director Zarenda told the board that several capital improvement projects approved during the recent legislative session will fund comprehensive upgrades: new culinary buildings, laundry replacements and other repairs were included in the capital plan. Valente and NDOC staff discussed specific facility examples: Northern Nevada Correctional Center had a repaired crawl space and a purchased replacement dish machine pending June 2025 installation, and Ely State Prison had plumbing and flooring repairs anticipated to complete in August.

Board members asked Valente to include remediation details in future biannual reports. Valente agreed to add corrective-action updates to the next report, which he said will be biannual and likely published at the end of the year.

The board did not take further action during the meeting on the inspections report.