By Leslie Reed
The Omaha World-Herald
LINCOLN, Neb. — Bucking a decades-long upward trend, Nebraska’s prison population dropped 2 percent in fiscal 2007 compared with the previous year.
State corrections officials said new community corrections programs, more paroles and better management techniques may be starting to whittle away at the prison population.
But, they cautioned, it is too soon to say whether this year’s dip means a long-term turnaround of a trend that began in the early 1980s, when state and federal sentencing laws were increased to get “tough on crime” and to declare a “war on drugs.”
The state’s prison population reached 4,447 inmates May 2006 — or 140 percent of capacity — increasing speculation that the state would need another new prison.
Corrections Director Bob Houston could not say Monday whether Nebraska may avert the need to build new prisons. But restraining the population growth could delay the need for new construction.
“We want to push any capacity increases as far into the future as possible,” he said.
In 1984, when Nebraska opened the Omaha Correctional Center, a medium-custody prison, the state had 1,867 inmates.
Prison population reached 3,900 by the time Nebraska opened a new 960-bed prison in Tecumseh in late 2001.
As of June 30, the population stood at 4,353, about 137 percent of design capacity.
Officials fill prisons beyond their design capacity by doubling up cells designed to hold only one person. At times, they also have set up cots in hallways or gymnasiums to accommodate more prisoners.
“We’ve had a real leveling of our population, zero growth. It’s something we didn’t predict a year ago,” said Steve King, a research analyst for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.
The nation as a whole seems to be experiencing a similar slowdown in prison population growth. According to 2006 census statistics released last week, the U.S. prison population began to level off after 2000. The nearly 2.1 million people who are incarcerated in correctional institutions — still an all-time high — is only a 4 percent increase since 2000. By contrast, prison populations nationwide swelled by 77 percent from 1990 to 2000.
Houston said he believes more is at work in Nebraska than the national trend.
“I really think the progress we’ve made can be attributed to ongoing efforts by state and local government,” he said. Admissions declined 7 percent in 2006-07, and releases increased by 4 percent.
It’s partly because of declining crime rates, Houston said, but the Corrections Department, the State Probation System and the Community Corrections Council have been working together to establish prison alternatives that judges feel comfortable using. They include new substance abuse treatment programs and day reporting centers that can be used as alternatives to prison.
The prison system is in the process of expanding its in-patient drug treatment program from 232 beds to 416 beds within two years. About 28 percent of inmates admitted to the prison system in fiscal 2006 were there on drug charges.
Work-release, where inmates work at private jobs outside the institution, also is being expanded. At the Omaha work-release center, for example, the number of people on work-release has been increased from 50 to 150. Slots are reserved for those who might be paroled in the near future.
Houston said the Parole Board is more willing to release prisoners who already have jobs and have obtained treatment for their addictions.
Former State Sen. Kermit Brashear of Omaha, who heads the Community Corrections Council, said he hopes that the prison population will continue to drop.
“I think this is simply the beginning,” he said.
Copyright 2007 Omaha World-Herald