A key legislative panel has changed course with a decision to move ahead on constructing a new $350 million state prison.
The Appropriations Committee voted 8-0 on Thursday to appropriate money for the construction project, more than two-and-a-half years after then-Gov. Pete Ricketts first called for building a new prison to replace the aging Nebraska State Penitentiary.
In previous years, the committee voted to set aside $255 million for a potential prison but held off on authorizing work to proceed. The delay was aimed at giving the state more time to work on criminal justice reforms that could reduce inmate numbers.
State Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln, the committee’s vice chairwoman, said the state still needs to undertake criminal justice reforms, but last year’s efforts to make changes in sentencing and other policies failed. In the meantime, conditions at the penitentiary have deteriorated.
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“We’re getting to a point where it’s inhumane for people to be living there,†she said. “It’s not safe.â€
A major water leak in one housing unit forced the relocation of 140 men in November. Prison officials have said that break could take two years to fix. Another leak displaced 600 men temporarily in March, while a leak in 2021 left the Lincoln prison without running water for nearly two days.
Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood, the committee chairman, said he toured the penitentiary and found it in “very poor shape.†In addition, he said, it lacks spaces that can be easily used for rehabilitative programs.
Rehabbing the penitentiary, which includes some of the oldest buildings in the state prison system, would cost almost as much as a new prison and would not solve the programming problem, he said.
But Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, the Judiciary Committee chairman, said he disagreed with the decision. He expressed hope the committee would also find money for programs that prevent Nebraskans from landing in prison and help those leaving prison be successful on their reentry into the community.
He said negotiations are underway in hopes of putting together a criminal justice and prison reform package that could pass the Legislature this year.
Fellow Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, who has sometimes talked about the “prison industrial complex,†also called for criminal justice reform and criticized the prison proposal.
“Building a new prison will not solve the problem,†he said.
A prison facilities master plan that was recently completed by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services bears out his concern. The plan concluded that, even with the proposed new prison, Nebraska will need to add another 1,500 prison beds over the next decade to keep up with projected inmate growth.
Projections since 2020 have shown that the inmate population, currently at about 5,500, is set to grow another 1,300 inmates by 2030. Nebraska’s prison system already is the most overcrowded and fastest growing in the U.S., according to a World-Herald analysis.
Diane Sabatka-Rine, interim corrections director, told the Appropriations Committee earlier this year that the penitentiary is designed to hold 818 people but currently houses about 1,200 men in maximum-, medium- and minimum-security units.
The proposal calls for a new prison that can house 1,512 men, also in maximum-, medium- and minimum-security units. Prison officials have said it should be built in the area of Omaha or Lincoln, where it would be easier to hire staff and easier for families to visit.
The prison master plan suggested the new facility should be built with the capacity to be expanded to 2,040 or 3,000 beds to accommodate future inmate growth between now and 2033.