Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Former Alabama corrections exec picked as Nevada prisons chief

CARSON CITY — A former Alabama prisons administrator with executive experience at several federal prisons has been picked to head the Nevada Department of Corrections.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Monday that Charles Daniels is taking the job James Dzurenda (zur-EHN'-dah) held for three years before resigning in July.

Sisolak says he expects Daniels to bring what the governor calls “needed structure, accountability and reform.”

Daniels retired in 2016 as federal prison warden in Terre Haute, Indiana, after 28 years working his way up from guard in California with stints as administrator at prisons in Beaumont, Texas, Illinois, Oregon and Colorado.

Daniels was most recently deputy operations commissioner for the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Nevada has nine correctional centers, 11 conservation camps and two transitional housing facilities.

Former prison warden and deputy Nevada corrections chief Harold Wickham served as interim director since July.