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Inmates serving murder, arson sentences die in Nevada prisons

Posted at 2:04 PM, Mar 14, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-14 17:04:25-04

The Nevada Department of Corrections is reporting two separate inmate deaths earlier this month.

On Saturday, March 3, around 4:20 p.m., 51-year-old Harold Hipps died in the infirmary at High Desert State Prison, located about 30 miles outside of Las Vegas. 

Hipps was committed from Clark County on July 6, 2016 and was serving up to 4 years on arson-related charges. Hipps had been released on parole November 17, 2017, but returned to prison Jan. 17 after violating conditions of his parole. 

Two days later, 58-year-old inmate Howard J. Crainer died around 7:46 a.m. March 5 at the Regional Medical Facility inside Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City. 

Crainer was committed from Nye County on Oct. 25, 1979, and was serving a sentence of life without parole for open murder in the first degree.