By Martha Stoddard
World-Herald Bureau
LINCOLN — Citing public safety concerns, Nebraska’s director of corrections has put an end to a program in which prison inmates drove state vehicles.
Director Robert Houston made the announcement Friday, 10 days after an inmate driver slammed nearly head-on into a minivan driven by 47-year-old Joyce Meeks of Lincoln. The mother of three was pronounced dead at the scene.
Houston, who was out of the country when the accident happened, expressed condolences to her family.
“I can only imagine the devastating impact this tragedy has had on her family and certainly wish for them to know they have been in my thoughts,” he said.
Houston said he could not provide any new information about the accident or about Jeremy Dobbe, the 35-year-old inmate who was driving.
Full story: Citing safety concerns, Corrections chief ends inmate-driving program after fatal crash