LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — An employee who was the assistant to the former director of Nevada state prisons is on paid administrative leave, according to the Department of Corrections.
Christina Leathers was placed on administrative leave from June 7, 2022, through March 3, 2023, as part of her negiotated separate agreement, according to a department spokesperson. Her annual salary is $102,131.84.
It is unclear why Leathers was placed on administrative leave.
The department spokesperson further explained in an email, “Administrative leave is the method in which the state can provide a ‘severance package.’ So although the employee is no longer functioning in that capacity, he or she is technically still receiving payment.”
Leathers was the Assistant to the Director under former Director Charles Daniels’ leadership. Daniels resigned on Sept. 30 at the request of Gov. Steve Sisolak, according to the Office of the Governor. This was the same week in which the department learned that an inmate had escaped nearly four days before.
Convicted murderer Porfirio Duarte-Herrera was taken into custody by officers of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police department two days after the prison staff had learned that he was missing.
The 8 News Now Investigators previously reported that William Hutchings, the former warden of Southern Desert Correctional Center who the department said resigned in July is also still getting paid. A spokesperson later said that his final date of employment is Nov. 11. He earned a salary of $127,660, according to the department.
The resignation of Hutchings came two months after the 8 News Now Investigators exposed that there was a riot inside the medium-security prison. The department initially called what unfolded a “disturbance.” However, the Investigators uncovered how inmates took over a unit inside the prison.
