Six sites in Lancaster, Douglas and Dodge counties are being looked at for the possible location of a new state prison, the head of the state's system announced Friday.
The announcement came on the third day of a legislative session in which lawmakers are grappling with how best to approach addressing the most-overcrowded prisons in the country.
They'll consider the pitch for a new 1,512-bed prison alongside legislative criminal justice reform. The nonprofit Crime and Justice Institute has facilitated a months-long dive into data with public officials from across the criminal justice system and government, and that's expected to result in concrete policy proposals soon.
The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services did not disclose the exact locations for a potential prison Friday because it has started negotiations with property owners, according to a news release. Other property owners could initiate offers.
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“The top criteria in evaluating all available sites has been proximity to a population center to support staffing. The ones selected so far fit that bill," Corrections Director Scott Frakes said in the release.
Additional criteria included distance to utility systems, hospital and emergency services, community services, road access and terrain, according to the release.
The approximate size of the site would be 160 acres.
“We have looked at parcels smaller than that, but ultimately, it cannot be less than 100 acres. The land would need to include a buffer zone separating it from surrounding developed or undeveloped property,†Frakes said.
Frakes formally proposed building a new prison late in 2020. It was most recently projected to cost $236 million.
He has argued that the state's prison system has been underbuilt for decades, and said his “intent has never been to grow the Nebraska prison system so we can put more people in prison.†A new facility would improve safety for staff and inmates, Frakes has said.
Initially, part of Frakes’ proposal for a new prison included repurposing the State Penitentiary in Lincoln as a minimum-security facility. But he has shifted to talking about the new prison as a replacement. A key driver, he's said, is the data-driven initiative, which could result in legislation that curbs prison population growth.
An engineering study, also released Friday, found that the penitentiary would need $220 million in repairs and replacements to match a new, “modern version of the same quantity and/or size of what exists.â€
The penitentiary first opened in 1869, according to the Corrections website. It has undergone multiple updates over the years.
The condition of the aging facility came under the spotlight in October when leaking pipes forced officials to shut off running water for nearly two days.
Lawmakers in 2021 approved a budget compromise that put nearly $15 million toward design and planning of a new facility. The compromise required the engineering study of the penitentiary to assess its useful life.
Gering Sen. John Stinner, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, hadn’t yet seen the engineering study as of Friday afternoon. But he said lawmakers were hoping for an updated estimate for the useful life of the facility.
That would provide a time frame for decision-making, he said. Back in 1980, Stinner said the penitentiary’s useful life was estimated at 50 years.
He said the study will also help gauge what should be done in terms of repurposing the facility versus demolishing it.
Lawmakers last year also allocated money to update the Corrections Department’s 2014 master facilities plan, a comprehensive document assessing the integrity of current facilities and the need for expansion. Frakes has said he expects that plan to wrap up by late summer 2022.
Even without the update complete, he hopes to get full agreement from the Legislature this session on moving forward with a new prison.
However, some have voiced forceful opposition to those plans.
Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha has said he at least wants to see meaningful improvements to the state's criminal justice system if the state ultimately decides to build a new prison.
The ACLU of Nebraska on Friday renewed its objections to a new prison, stating in a news release that the state "cannot morally or fiscally afford an attempt to build its way out of those challenges."
Unlike Nebraska’s newest state prison, which opened near the rural community of Tecumseh in 2011, Frakes has said a new facility would need to be in an area with a large enough population to staff it, which seemed to point to Lincoln and Omaha as potential locations.
Fremont is the most-populous community in Dodge County.