Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska legislators plan to meet with state corrections officials in the next few weeks to discuss ways the state might reduce overcrowding at the state’s prisons, which are at 145 percent of capacity.
The prisons were built to house up to 3,175 prisoners, but are currently housing more than 4,600, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
“We’re going to have a lawsuit that will force us to build a new prison,” said Sen. Brad Ashford, of Omaha, who is chairman of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee. The overcrowding also could prompt a federal judge to order the building of more cells, Ashford said.
Sen. Ernie Chambers, of Omaha, blamed the overcrowding on stiffer sentences lawmakers have linked to charges and on prison officials punishing inmates for misbehaving by taking away inmates’ so-called good time, which can shorten the length of a sentence.
Ashford said there are people in prison who shouldn’t be there.
“We have too many low-grade offenders in prison right now that are not a threat to themselves or others that should be in community-based services back in their communities,” Ashford said.
Forty-two percent of Nebraska’s inmates are in prison for major crimes such as murder, manslaughter, first-degree assault, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree sexual assault of a child and robbery. The rest, said state corrections officials, are serving time for other offenses.
Using GPS devices to track offenders assigned to community-based programs is cheaper than building another prison, said Ashford, who noted that a new prison could cost more than $110 million.
It costs about $29,000 a year to house an inmate, prison officials say, compared with $5,000 a year for intense parole supervision. And Nebraska Corrections Director Bob Houston and others have said that say parole, coupled with treatment, is a more effective way at guiding offenders away from more crimes.
Ashford said the state needs to increase community-based programs and provide more mental health services to juvenile and adult offenders.
“We need to juice up . the community-based programs,” Ashford said. “The failure has occurred all the way up and down the line.”