Inmate 'travel agent' hauls captive audience around Nevada

Lt. Chris Stoecklin is a travel agent, of sorts, who literally caters to a captive audience.

Stoecklin, transportation lieutenant for the Department of Prisons, is the go-to man for movement of Nevada inmates outside prison walls, be it to attend court, or transfer to a different prison. His department also handles extraditions nationwide.

With a fleet of 44 buses and 24 15-passenger vans, Stoecklin's staff of 48 corrections officers transports on average 4,000 inmates a month driving more than 35,000 miles to every corner of Nevada.

"We are on the road constantly," Stoecklin, 57, said from his office at the Stewart Facility on Snyder Avenue.

Manhattan-born, Stoecklin, a Vietnam veteran, served four years in the Navy. After his discharge, he attended college then enlisted in the Army as an officer. He retired as a military intelligence major in 1994. He holds two master's degrees -- one in health care and another in personnel administration.

His wife, Kris Haig, who is an Army Reserve master sergeant, was deployed in December for a year "on a classified mission" in the eastern U.S.

"She'd gotten her 20-year letter to retire and was going to, but got orders to deploy," he said.

When she left, Haig was special assistant to Department of Corrections Director Jackie Crawford.

Stoecklin's son, Grant, 26, went the way of marine biology and works in Florida, and Haig's son, Patrick, chose to follow in his mother's footsteps.

Patrick, 19, a Churchhill High School graduate, is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces Band stationed in Norfolk, Virginia.

After being followed from duty station to duty station, Stoecklin said when he retired he decided to let his wife pick the final destination.

She chose Carson City to be closer to her family.

His corrections career began at the Lovelock Correctional Facility when Crawford was warden.

When Crawford was appointed director in May 2000, she chose Stoecklin for the position he holds today, he said.

Since taking his post in October, Stoecklin said, there have been no breeches of security while transporting.

"My favorite part of the job is the successful completion of a transport," he said. "I have a damn good team here. Very professional, very experienced."