By Cathy Scott

Segregation implemented at High Desert State Prison

From the 1930s until the '60s, Las Vegas was known as the "Little Mississippi of the West."

But desegregation began on a spring day in 1960 after the historic signing of an agreement between local and state officials that allowed black patrons, employees and entertainers into casinos.

Now, some 44 years later, officers at the medium-security High Desert State Prison near Indian Springs say officials are placing prisoners in housing modules based on race. The action took place following a riot and the fatal stoning of an inmate in July.

According to several corrections officers, all black inmates are now being housed in separate pods, or units, while whites have been moved to their own units and Hispanics to theirs. The prison houses nearly 2,000 inmates, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections' Website.

Officers from the Southern Desert Correctional Center and some from Northern Nevada were recently called in to the prison to help officials put the new program into place in the general population modules, the officers said.

"Segregation is not happening anywhere else but here," one guard said.

Howard Skolnik, spokesman for the prison, said it's not intentional segregation.

"We've moved inmates around based on behavior," Skolnik said. "Most of our staff are at the front of the prison. The best inmates are being moved to the rear. We're putting what we perceive as our most likely prisoners to act up at the front.

"It takes at least 10 minutes to run from the front of the prison to the back. We're setting it up so that if something were to happen, we could respond more quickly."

The inmate moves started the week of Aug. 9, after an investigation into the riot was completed, Skolnik said. The results of the investigation weren't available.

Meanwhile, inmates have been in lockdown status, which means they haven't been allowed in the exercise yard where the riot occurred and, instead, have been kept in their cells 23 hours a day.

UNR football player speaks about robbery

As if the recent arrest of University of Nevada-Reno football cornerback Rodney Landingham on bank robbery charges wasn't bad enough, Landingham appeared to show his real colors on TV.

In a jailhouse interview, Landingham told KRNV-TV of Reno that he'd committed four armed robberies in Reno this summer. He blamed it on a gambling habit that left him in debt and said he hoped the judge would go easy on him.

"It would've been worth it if I hadn't gotten caught," he told KRNV-TV.

Landingham, 21, is accused of using a loaded Llama .380 automatic handgun -- while wearing a Halloween mask -- to rob bank tellers. He was caught after a teller included an electronic tracking device with the money after an Aug. 4 robbery.

On Aug. 11 a federal grand jury in Reno indicted him. According to the criminal complaint, Landingham has been charged with two counts of armed bank robbery and two counts of use of a firearm in a crime of violence.

If convicted, he faces more than 50 years in a federal penitentiary.

Russians earn 93 gold medals in Vegas

You would have thought it was the Olympics in Las Vegas the way a headline screamed across the Moscow News. "Russian Policemen Receive Over 90 Gold Medals in Las Vegas," the headline read.

The desert games weren't part of the Summer Olympics. Still, it was a time to celebrate after Russian police officers received 93 gold medals in the International Police and Fire Games held Aug. 10-15 in Las Vegas.

Sixty people represented the Russian team, which included Interior Ministry and State Agency of Drug Trafficking Control officials, the paper reported. About 3,900 police officers and firefighters across the globe competed for the gold at different locations throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

Scottish paper notes Vegas' dismal environment

A recent report in the Scotsman claimed that the Las Vegas ecological environment is paying a hefty price for growth.

"Whole communities of millionaire's mansions are now spreading out into what was once pristine desert around the edges of the boom town," the Scottish newspaper reported in an Aug. 15 article. "But wealthy tax-dodgers are now being accused of creating an unrestricted urban sprawl that threatens environmental disaster."

"Traffic gridlock is commonplace, air pollution levels are soaring and, most alarmingly, the thirst for water means the mighty Colorado River is increasingly running dry," the article continued.

CATHY SCOTT IS A LAS VEGAS-BASED CRIME WRITER AND AUTHOR OF MURDER OF A MAFIA DAUGHTER AND DEATH IN THE DESERT. CONTACT HER AT 702-243-2923 OR BY E-MAIL AT CATHY@CATHYSCOTT.COM.