Supporters of Bundy case defendants rally at Nevada prison

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Supporters of Nevada rancher and states’ rights figure Cliven Bundy and his sons went to a federal detention center to protest conditions in which defendants are being held while awaiting trial in federal court in Las Vegas.

A rally organizer and spokesman, Doug Knowles, says the demonstration Wednesday at the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump follows the filing of a civil lawsuit last week by son Ryan Bundy.

The lawsuit alleges that detainees’ constitutional rights are being violated by frequent strip searches and periods of lockdown in disciplinary segregation.

Cliven Bundy, sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and several other defendants are due for trial June 26 on charges in a 2014 armed standoff that stopped federal agents from enforcing confiscating Bundy cows from public rangeland near the family ranch.