The letter was written in long hand, sent in early August to the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington by inmate William Epp, on behalf of Nebraska state prisoners.
"In the spirit of governmental transparency and (the) current move to reform and change Corrections and legal systems, this is a place to start, the geographic center of the United States," Epp told the nation's law enforcers.Â
He called on the Department of Justice to spare no expense on a full scale federal takeover of Nebraska's Department of Correctional Services and investigation of these things: corruption, mismanagement, misappropriation of state and federal funds, indifference, negligence, willful disregard of judicial directives, civil rights violations, wrongful deaths.Â
Inmates have been bringing their concerns about conditions in the prisons since 2008, Epp said in the letter. But on May 10, a serious "event" at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution -- the media called it a riot -- got national attention.Â
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"Rightfully so," Epp wrote.Â
The prisons were collectively at 156 percent of design capacity as of July 29. Individual prisons in Nebraska range from 101.5 percent to 282.5 percent of design capacity.Â
More than 1,300 were parole eligible at that time. Epp asked why the federal government, or its courts, were not mandating people be paroled to ease crowding.Â
In 2009, a federal court ordered the California prison system to reduce overcrowding by as many as 55,000 inmates within three years to provide a constitutional level of medical and mental health care.Â
Recently, the Alabama Senate passed a bill to prevent federal takeover of that state's prisons.Â
The Nebraska Legislature has been working with consultants and passing legislation in the past two years to avoid such a takeover here.Â
At the same time, Epp said, inmates have been communicating their issues to the governor's office, present and past senators and the ombudsman's office.Â
Inmates have also used the internal grievance procedure, but don't get substantive responses, and no corrective actions taken, he said.
"We were persona non grata."Â
The inmates have asked the federal government to respond three times, and have yet to receive any feedback.
State officials did nothing, he said, to avert "unpleasantries" in May, even though they could have made a difference.
In a telephone interview from the Tecumseh prison, Epp said two inmates were killed by other inmates during the riot and there were previous deaths at the prison, which inmates believe were related to the crowding.Â
"They were suicides. And they were senseless, needless suicides. These people had no business ever dying," he said.
"It was, you know, the atmosphere and the lack of response when complaints were drafted and submitted. Nobody did anything to ward this whole thing off,"Â Epp said. "It was an accumulative thing for a period of years. This has been coming for quite some time already.
"It all boils down to a lack of caring. ... It fell on deaf ears and blind eyes."Â
During the interview, he said, prison staff were listening, "recording every last syllable of that phone call."
In addition, he said, housing unit case managers were in the room, one sitting across the desk by the phone he was using.
"Make no mistake. I made a lot of enemies today. They won't forget," he said.
The issues he spoke of were more detailed and complex than they appeared during the interview, Epp said.
"And conversely, they are that simple."
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New Nebraska Corrections Director Scott Frakes has asked for a little time to make positive changes at the prisons.Â
Epp would like to think those changes are coming, he said. The potential is there, but whether anything with substance materializes, or whether they will be the right changes, is yet to be seen.
He asks, are they just throwing the Legislature, the governor's office, taxpayers a bone?Â
Frakes has promised to offer a plan this fall that could include changes to physical design of facilities, programming, education opportunities, staffing improvements.
But he has had to divert his attention, time, energy and resources during the past four months to Tecumseh and its cleanup and repairs. Â
He knows inmates at Tecumseh -- especially those with the most limited movement, no job, no visits, no activities, programs, education -- are eager for more after an extended modified lockdown.
"I understand. It's a long time to be spending a good part of your day and night in a cell, and in almost all the cases with a cell mate. And even if you like your cell mate, at some point you're going to want to have that opportunity to be alone or to spend more time out."
"It'll still happen," Frakes said, "but it's not going to happen now until I'm able to get the facility back to a new normal of operation."
Things continue to move at a "very steady and progressive safe pace," he said. But cleanup and renovations were more challenging than was originally estimated.
And even more than the physical plant issues are the staffing issues, Frakes said. Two classes of correctional officers have graduated in recent weeks. Staffing is increasing, but until it is adequate to run the facility with normal movement, it will be a challenge.
Since June, turnover has decreased dramatically at Tecumseh and other facilities, he said.Â
Epp said inmates are seeing "a bunch of new faces in here but still they are grossly inadequate so far as manpower goes. They're basically hiring kids, for one thing.
"They have minimal training, according to their actions. You can see it in their eyes. It's a cross between fear, and they're lost. They just don't know what to do."
They seem to have a lack of maturity and a lack of training, Epp said.Â
Frakes said new staff are learning the rules and processes, and honing their own style. Sometimes inmates see that as being inconsistent.Â
With inexperienced staff, he said, there's always testing by inmates, to see how they'll act when challenged, and if decisions are going to be firm, fair and consistent.
Some inmates are looking for corrections officers they think they can manipulate. Some just want to know how to effectively work with those people that have a lot of control over their lives.Â
"They have a lot more time to study us than we do them. And they use that time well," Frakes said.Â
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William Epp, 56, is from Beatrice and serving time for being a felon in possession of a knife, robbery and being a habitual criminal. His parole eligibility date is May 2077.
He is, as he says, not going anywhere.Â
And people who believe in the "lock them up and throw away the key" philosophy of criminal justice won't have any interest in what he has to say or his right to say it.
He came into the system June 1978 on convictions of second-degree murder, possession of explosives, drunk driving and resisting arrest and was discharged in 2006. He had been on parole in 1992 but was returned to prison.
Since May 29, 2007, Epp said, he has not had so much as a puff off a Camel. "I've not been this clean since I was 13 to 14 years old."Â
He didn't get far in school. But he knows the importance of education. Â
"We need some serious education in the Nebraska (prison) system. I'm not talking about some type of jailhouse GED or anything like that. Those are a dime a dozen," he said.
The need for programs and education in the prisons far transcends him, he said.
"I'm nothing. You know what I mean?"
But Epp sees what a substantive education, programs and changes could mean for the men and women in the system.
"I mean the change in these people would just be phenomenal if they're just given a chance to do that," he said.
A person who approaches an employer with just a GED, Epp said, has little chance of getting a job that will pay rent, utilities and bills, and still have something bankable.Â
These men and women need a viable trade, he said, something that can make a difference in their family's lives and divert them from using criminal means to make ends meet.Â
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Frakes would like to see behavioral-cognitive training for staff that interact with inmates, training that has made a difference for inmates elsewhere.
They already are doing training and starting groups using Moral Reconation Therapy, a treatment strategy designed to decrease the number of criminal offenders from returning to prison by increasing moral reasoning.
And there's a pilot program this summer to restore Pell grants.
"I'm excited about that," Frakes said. "We could see the opportunity again for people that are on parole to have easier access to higher education and potentially a move to where people that are incarcerated to be able to once again access higher education with some supported funding."Â
In addition, he's looking to community colleges, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Omaha to bring additional programs into the prisons.Â
One of the challenges will be to provide opportunities for inmates doing long or life sentences, Frakes said. That could come from programming, developing a robust volunteer system and expanding inmate clubs.Â
At the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, he has challenged inmates to put together a lifers group, connecting them with Concerned Lifers in Washington state that has been operating more than 40 years. Â
But Frakes sees a major responsibility to prepare people to be ready for parole.
"And that's where I'm going to focus a good part of this department's energy," he said.Â
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Jan Sharp, the criminal chief in the U.S. Attorney's office in Omaha, said no one in his office had seen Epp's letter. People in the civil rights division in Washington told him they were also unaware of it.
He was apologetic as he suggested the department's office of public affairs as the next contact, but wasn't optimistic they could track it down, either. Contacted twice, that office has not responded.Â
Meanwhile, Epp said, the tension level is going up again in Tecumseh.Â
The 10th of May didn't have to happen, he said. Staff were warned by informants, who asked for protective custody more than a month ahead and said child molesters were probably going to be targeted.Â
Something needs to happen to relieve overcrowding, Epp said.Â
Moving inmates more quickly to parole or discharge would do wonders to take pressure off, he said. And managers who have no incentive to alter existing behavior still need to be replaced, and spending by the department needs to be scrutinized.Â
"They and state government do not want the feds in here, poking through their business," Epp said, "even though that's what it will take to clean the Corrections Department up.
"As we asked, how deep does the rabbit hole go?"