I'm liking that this is becoming a campaign issue:
http://www.kotanow.com/...
Democratic nominee Chuck Hassebrook says that there are some real issues that need to be solved within the prison system.
He says it is no secret that Nebraska is trying to overcome overcrowding in some of its state prisons. Hassebrook says that if elected, he would offer alternatives for non–violent offenders in an effort to avoid constructing a new state prison.
"You know, if we send somebody to prison for a drug crime, when they get out, there's a fifty percent chance they re–offend," says Hassebrook. "If we send them to a drug court, where they have intensive regular supervision, they go before a judge every week, they have to meet certain goals, they're subject to random drug tests. When they graduate from drug court, there's only a fifteen percent chance they re–offend and it costs one fifth as much."
Hassebrook says that he feels the prison system failures of recent years would not have happened under his watch and will "not happen again" under his watch. - KOTA, 7/13/14
Here are some more details:
http://columbustelegram.com/...
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chuck Hassebrook said Wednesday he would expand community programs and alternatives for nonviolent offenders in an effort to more effectively curb criminal behavior while avoiding construction of a new state prison.
Hassebrook said he'd also propose that the state invest in more long-term solutions such as early childhood education and early job training that could help reduce future prison and public assistance costs.
As Nebraska confronts substantial overcrowding of its state prisons, he said, "the option of building or leasing new prison space must be on the table."
But, he said, "I will take every responsible step to avoid that expensive option while protecting Nebraskans from dangerous criminals."
As governor, Hassebrook said, he would propose and finalize regulations to "take every day of automatically granted good time away from prisoners who repeatedly break prison rules, attack guards or assault other prisoners."
Under Nebraska's good time law, prisoners essentially receive a one-day reduction in their sentences for every day served. Gov. Dave Heineman has proposed that the law be changed to require prisoners to "earn" each day of good time.
If he's elected, Hassebrook said, "the buck will stop at my desk to ensure that all sentencing statutes are fully and faithfully implemented."
His statement on prison policy comes in the wake of the premature release of several hundred prisoners who had not fully served their sentences because of administrative errors in determining the requirements of mandatory minimum sentences.
"The failures of recent years would not have happened under my watch," Hassebrook said, "and will not happen again under my watch."
Recalculation of sentences to correct administrative errors has added time in prison for nearly 600 current inmates. The errors in determining required length of incarceration were uncovered by an Omaha World-Herald investigation.
Hassebrook said he would support expansion of drug, veterans, young adult and mental health courts for nonviolent offenders, all of which could impose community programming requirements in lieu of imprisonment. - Columbus Telegram, 7/10/14
This is becoming a serious a issue in the Governor's race:
http://www.omaha.com/...
The state’s prisons are overcrowded — and state officials are still scrambling in the wake of a World-Herald investigation that found that the state released, or had scheduled early releases, for hundreds of inmates.
The discovery of the early releases came on the heels of three inmate-related scandals that led to deaths: the weekend furlough and subsequent police shooting of Omaha gang member Jermaine Lucas in September 2012; a June 2013 crash in which inmate Jeremy Dobbe, part of a prison driving program, crossed a center line and killed Lincoln resident Joyce Meeks; and the saga of Nikko Jenkins, who killed four Omahans shortly after he was released in July 2013 despite years of bad prison behavior.
Nebraska hasn’t appointed a director from outside the State Department of Correctional Services since 1984, when then-Gov. Bob Kerrey tapped Frank Gunter to leave North Carolina and head Nebraska’s prisons.
Chuck Hassebrook, Democratic candidate for governor, said he would inventory the department and consider whether it needs a new direction, such as a director from outside the state.
“Absolutely,” Hassebrook said. “If that’s what it takes.”
Pete Ricketts, Republican candidate for governor, said he first wants the state to sort out who knew what and when — and he wants to clear up whatever miscommunication led to the miscalculations.
“Clearly this is a breakdown in process that never should have happened,” Ricketts said. “We need to figure out what went wrong and make sure it never happens again.”
The World-Herald investigation, first published June 15, revealed that the state used a flawed formula to compute release dates, resulting in years being shaved off sentences of the state’s worst offenders. Since that report, Gov. Dave Heineman’s office has identified at least 750 prisoners who had their sentences incorrectly shortened — about 200 of whom were released from prison before they should have been.
In a campaign press release Wednesday and in an earlier interview with The World-Herald, Hassebrook blamed Heineman for the debacle.
“When I take office in January, the buck will stop at my desk to ensure that sentencing statutes are fully and faithfully implemented,” Hassebrook said. “The failures of recent years would not have happened under my watch and will not happen again under my watch.” - Omaha Wolf-Herald, 7/10/14
I have long been a supporter of prison reform and I am happy to see it become an issue in this race. As PPP showed, this race is surprisingly competitive and we have a strong candidate in Hassebrook. Click here to get involved and donate to his campaign so we can pull off an upset victory in November:
http://www.chuckhassebrook.com/