OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Top officials from all three branches of Nebraska government on Friday announced a new effort aimed at learning why the state prison population keeps growing and what they might do to safely reduce the number of inmates.
State officials have applied for a federal grant to join forces with the Crime and Justice Institute, a nonprofit that has worked with other states to help identify what’s causing the increases.
Nebraska’s prison system is plagued by chronic overcrowding, even though many other states have managed to reduce their numbers. Previous attempts to address the problem have yielded mixed results, and Nebraska’s prison population is projected to continue growing through at least 2025.
“We all know that we are facing a number of different challenges,’’ Gov. Pete Ricketts said at a news conference with the Nebraska Supreme Court’s chief justice and key legislative leaders from both parties.
Ricketts, a Republican, said the Crime and Justice Institute will take a “data-driven’’ look at Nebraska’s sentencing, release and supervision policies. States such as California, Missouri and Oregon have reduced their populations by overhauling sentencing laws, producing declines so dramatic that they have been able to close prisons and save millions of dollars.
Some Nebraska lawmakers have tried to change the state’s sentencing laws to allow the release of more nonviolent inmates, but the measures stalled amid resistance from prosecutors and law enforcement, who argued the proposals would have undermined public safety.
Ricketts said it’s unlikely Nebraska will be able to cut its inmate numbers enough to close a prison, and he argued that the state still needs to build a new facility to replace the 152-year-old Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln. But he said the review could help identify areas where the state can improve.
A 2015 review of Nebraska’s prison system found that much of the overcrowding was driven by people who reoffended and ended up back in prison. The Council of State Governments, an outside group that worked with state officials, found that some inmates were being released before they had finished all of their rehabilitation and treatment programs, which made them more likely to violate their parole.
Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican said the state’s judicial branch has already changed some practices to try to divert more offenders into treatment programs as an alternative to prison. He said the state’s judges and court employees were willing to look at other ideas as well.
“We want to be part of this study and this effort to see if we can do things better,’’ he said.
Sen. Steve Lathrop, the chairman of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, said he suspects that state officials will have to use a combination of policy changes and building additional prison space to ease overcrowding.
Lathrop, of Omaha, said the Crime and Justice Institute will spend about six months looking at Nebraska’s prison, probation and parole numbers to identify trends. The group will report its findings to state officials to help shape proposals for the 2022 legislative session.
“They’ll break it all down so we can see where we have bottlenecks,’’ Lathrop said.
