By C1 Staff
LINCOLN — Two takeaways from a new report is giving the Nebraska penal system options to cut down on prison overcrowding.
Kearney Hub reports that the options included sentencing nonviolent felons to probation instead of prison and by finding alternatives to incarceration for inmates serving sentences of less than a year.
State prisons, as of July 31, held 57 percent more inmates than their design capacity.
The Council of State Governments was invited to perform a study and offer suggestions toward alleviating the overcrowding.
Other findings included that judges in certain counties were more likely to sentence felons to jail or prison, rather than less costly probation supervision; the number of inmates sentenced to jail time of a year or less had increased by 30 percent over the past decade; and that the state could trim more prison costs by updating its statues regarding felony theft.
The information about judges giving harsher sentences than necessary was of particular note to many, who questioned whether urban judges were sentencing felons to jail and prison than others in the state.
The CSG indicated that part of the increase in the state’s prison population was due to longer sentences adopted by the State Legislature for possession and manufacture of methamphetamine, drunken driving and weapons crimes.
Gov. Dave Heineman said Nebraskans overwhelmingly supported such get-tough-on-crime measures, despite the additional cost. He also said that if figures showed that judges in one part of the state are giving longer sentences for the same crimes than judges elsewhere, it merited attention.
He said more details and study are needed so that the state can craft the best prison reform plan possible.