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With the exception of being a state trooper, the toughest job in state government in my estimation is working as a corrections officer in a state prison.
You’re dealing with a population of men and women who, for the most part, are adept at manipulation and have some history in assaultive behavior.
Corrections officers deal with a difficult group of people while trying to steer inmates to a better, law-abiding life.
It’s a tough job, made tougher by the decades-long overcrowding to state prisons.
It means you deal with more inmates than normal, and – due to staff shortages – often do more than one job at once. Overcrowding means there’s less space and time for rehabilitation programs, and more frustration among inmates. Assaults of staff happen too often.
And now we hear that a new state prison, touted as better equipped to turn inmate lives around and safer for staff as well as inmates, is behind schedule and likely to cost a lot more than estimated.
Andrew Wegley of the Lincoln Journal Star recently laid out the grim news – a 1,500-bed prison initially estimated to cost $230 million was now expected to cost in excess of $350 million.
That $350 million estimate hasn’t been updated in 25 months, Wegley pointed out, and officials concede the price tag is much higher. Just last year, a consultant was hired to “reduce the anticipated construction cost” of the facility, to be built just north of Interstate 80 in Lincoln.
In neighboring South Dakota, Wegley wrote, the cost of a similarly sized prison has ballooned to $825 million, with lawmakers there questioning why Nebraska’s proposed prison – while increasing in cost – has a much lower price tag. (One official said it was because South Dakota’s prison is designed to last 100 years, while Nebraska’s is not.)
Construction on Nebraska’s new prison – designed to replace the aging State Penitentiary – was supposed to start this fall, but it now appears to have been pushed back into next year.
Let’s be clear – no one wins a popularity contest (or an election) by building a state prison. They’re expensive – $350 million would be one of the most expensive state construction projects in history – and lawmakers would rather spend money elsewhere, such as for politically popular property tax credits.
But states that neglect prison construction, and let existing prisons grow old and overcrowded, can find themselves in a lot of hot water. California’s prison system, for instance, was taken over by the federal courts a few years back, and was ordered to take several steps to reduce overcrowding deemed “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Nebraska has dodged court intervention, but it’s also kicked the can of building a new prison down the road for more than a decade. Privately, old wardens and corrections officers will tell you that the state should have built a new prison 20 years ago.
Now, routinely, state prisons hold about 1,800 more inmates than they were built to hold. (Hmmm, that’s about a prison’s worth.)
But instead of construction the administrations of former governors Dave Heineman and Pete Ricketts both opted for blue-ribbon studies of ways to reduce prison overcrowding without building a new prison.
While studies came up with several “smart justice” reforms, state lawmakers rejected several of them as too soft on crime.
Some legislators, like North Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, argue that the state should seek more cost-effective ways to deal with criminal offenders. For instance, problem- solving courts, which deal with drug offenders and veterans. They cost about $4,400 a year to operate compared to $41,000 for a prison bed. He’s not wrong, and it might help avoid the need to build two, new and expensive state prisons.
It’s way past due to build a new prison and time to stop kicking the can. Like Larry the Cable Guy says, “Get ‘r’ done.”
Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. Prior to his retirement, he was senior contributor with the Nebraska Examiner. He was previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he loves traveling and writing about the state.
