Nevada prison escape, resignation raises political stakes

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The head of Nevada’s Department of Corrections resigned Friday at the request of Gov. Steve Sisolak in the wake of a prison escape by a convicted bombmaker that went unnoticed for four days.

The escapee, who was serving a life sentence for a 2007 murder in an explosion outside a Las Vegas Strip resort, was captured Wednesday night.

Sisolak said in a statement Friday he “requested and received Nevada Department of Corrections Director Charles Daniels’ resignation, effective immediately.” Six other officers were placed on administrative leave.

The embarrassing chain of events has put a spotlight on chronic staffing shortages at prisons throughout Nevada against a high-stakes political backdrop in the western battleground state a month before the November elections.

Joe Lombardo, the Republican sheriff in Las Vegas who’s running against the Democratic governor, says authorities were lucky to catch the convicted killer after he got a “four-day head start.”

Leaders of the union representing state prison workers say it underscores the need for immediate action to ensure their safety as well as that of the general public.

Sisolak and Lombardo are scheduled to face off in a debate in Las Vegas on Sunday — five years after they worked together to raise millions of dollars for victims of the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that left 58 dead and more than 850 injured.

Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 42, escaped from the Southern Desert Correctional Center outside Las Vegas Sept. 23. State corrections officials didn’t realize until Tuesday he was not at the medium-security facility.

A tip led to his capture at a transit center in Las Vegas on Wednesday night as he prepared to board a bus out of town.

Lombardo said Thursday at a joint news conference...