Power outage forces lock down at Washoe County Jail

Angry inmates confined to cells in the darkness and without air conditioning or water banged on doors and yelled, but no serious incidents occurred.

The outage occurred at 6:19 p.m. Wednesday when a 600-amp fuse blew at the jail and two newly installed backup generators failed to start.

Power was restored at 11:35 p.m.

About 50 extra deputies were called in to maintain security, and nighttime highway construction lights were used to illuminate the perimeter of the facility on Parr Boulevard.

At the time of the incident, there were 930 inmates at the jail designed to house 615.

Water was turned off when jail officials feared angry inmates would break pipes and clog toilets in protest.

Backup generators have failed twice before, prompting officials to purchase two new, larger generators at a cost of about $500,000 to ensure against outages.

"I'm very, very upset," Kirkland said. "This is totally unacceptable, especially with the amount of money that taxpayers have paid for these backup generators."

Sheriff's Department spokesman Mark Caldwell said air conditioning and lights were the first things turned on when power was restored, and inmates calmed down quickly.

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