Studying prison overcrowding, 'staffing is the most serious problem'

NEBRASKA -- Senator Steve Lathrop of Nebraska's Judiciary Committee is studying prisons in Nebraska to design proposals for January's session.

He told NCN there are two separate problems: The overpopulation of inmates, and the understaffing of employees. The CGI is in the process of sharing data points with him about the types of inmates, and where there may be room for reform.

Lathrop concludes that staffing, he's found, is the biggest problem right now.

"We now lock down the prisoners in three of our facilities three days a week where they don't get up and they don't move around," he said, because of the employee shortage. He continued, the cause of this shortage is a "spiral" that starts with low pay, and includes the fact that "young people want careers, not jobs."

He said the proposals he expects to bring forward in January will likely include shorter punishment terms and alternative punishments.