Former Nevada official says he had no part in scandal at prison

Ron Angelone, now director of Virginia's prison system, said in a telephone interview that Gov. Bob Miller was incorrect in saying problems found at the prison predate the current Department of Prisons director, Bob Bayer.

"Maybe the governor was not given the full information in the report," Angelone said Wednesday. "But at least some of this started on Bob Bayer's watch. To say the problems stemmed from a former administration is not true."

Angelone left as director in April 1994 after almost five years on the job. For about six months, an acting director, Karl Sannicks, oversaw the system. Bayer was appointed by Miller as director in January 1995.

Problems within the administration of the Nevada Women's Correctional Center, which converted to a men's prison after a privatized women's prison opened in North Las Vegas in late 1997, became public through a prison sergeant's appeal of his demotion.

Many of the problems identified in the report, including drug use by employees and an incident of sleeping on duty, occurred in 1995, after Bayer began serving as director.

Some incidents dated back to the second half of 1994, after Angelone had left the department.

Bayer said Wednesday that two of the most important incidents mentioned in the decision, that a senior prison official offered to promote a female subordinate's career in exchange for sex, and that an associate warden had a relationship with an ex-convict, occurred prior to his taking the job as director and after Angelone left.

Bayer said he was still listening to the tapes of the personnel hearing and was planning to wrap up his investigation quickly.

"Obviously, this kind of thing is real important," he said. "I'm listening to a lot of tapes and taking notes. I'm moving as quickly on this as I can."

Mel Vande Brake won his appeal of his demotion to correctional officer in 1996 in a decision made public July 2.

Hearing Officer David Kladney ruled there was evidence of "stonewalling" by the current prison administration regarding questions of impropriety of top ranking prison officials. The allegations include consorting with an ex-convict and sexual impropriety.

Kladney criticized both past and current management in the problems regarding the women's prison.

Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-North Las Vegas, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, said lawmakers may need to review the situation with Bayer, possibly at a meeting in September.

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