The High Desert State Prison was constructed as a medium security facility in rural Nevada, forty miles northwest of Las Vegas. Because of the remote location, the prison was designed as a self-sustaining site, almost a small state-of-the-art city. The $100 million facility consists of 12 housing units, eight administrative and security buildings, a recreation building, a medical facility, a culinary/laundry building, a warehouse/motor pool building, seven guard towers and a powerhouse containing boilers, chillers and emergency electric generators.

The mechanical contractor on this project was Hansen Mechanical, Inc., of Las Vegas. Project Manager Dick Tillotson earned the respect of every person on the project with his management skills and attention to detail. It is a far superior project because of Mr. Tillotson.