Inmate confinement reform amended, advanced

A bill focusing on inmate isolation policies for Nebraska’s prisons was amended and advanced April 14.

Introduced by Columbus Sen. Paul Schumacher, LB598 would require the state Department of Correctional services, beginning July 1, 2016, to use the least restrictive manner required for maintaining institutional order when isolating inmates from the general prison population. It also would require the department director to submit a report to the governor and the Legislature that outlines a long-term plan for the use and reduction of inmate segregation.

Due before April 1, 2016, the report would include the behavior, conditions and mental health status under which an inmate would be placed in each confinement level and regulations for transitioning inmates back to the general prison population or to society. The report also would contain a plan for oversight of the department by an independent third party.

Additionally, the director would be required to develop a plan to keep electronic records of all inmates and report quarterly to the Legislature the number of inmates in isolation, reasons for segregation, whether those inmates have been diagnosed with mental illness and the number of inmates released from segregation directly to parole or the community.

LB598 also would create a long-term segregation work group, consisting of the department director and other department officials, mental health professionals and prisoners’ rights advocates appointed by the governor. The group would be required to meet no later than July 1, 2015, and at least semiannually thereafter and would advise the department on treatment and care of offenders in long-term segregation.

As the hearings conducted by a special investigative committee revealed, Schumacher said, a lack of regulations regarding solitary confinement led to Nikko Jenkins being isolated for more than half of his incarceration. Schumacher said testimony showed that Jenkins’ time in segregation likely did psychological damage and contributed to him killing four people in Omaha following his release from the Nebraska State Penitentiary in 2013.

A Judiciary Committee amendment, adopted 31-0, incorporated provisions of two other bills into the measure.

Provisions of LB606, introduced by Omaha Sen. Heath Mello, would create the Office of Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System. The inspector general would serve a five-year term and be appointed and supervised by the Office of Public Counsel.

Duties of the inspector general would include conducting investigations, audits, inspections and other reviews of the Nebraska correctional system. The inspector would be required to provide a summary of all reports and investigations to the Judiciary Committee and governor on or before Sept. 15 each year.

Provisions of LB606 also would require the governor, beginning July 1, 2020, to declare an overcrowding emergency when the director of correctional services certifies that the prison population is over 140 percent of design capacity.

Currently, the governor has the option on whether or not to declare an emergency when the population reaches the 140 percent threshold. Declaration of an overcrowding emergency mandates that the state Parole Board immediately consider all eligible inmates for parole.

Incorporated provisions of LB592, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Kate Bolz, would require the department to administer a mental health evaluation to all inmates within the first two weeks of their incarceration. The department would be required to treat mentally ill inmates and re-evaluate them prior to release. The bill’s provisions would authorize the chief executive officer of a correctional facility to segregate or transfer mentally ill and dangerous inmates to a psychiatric facility outside of the department.

Additionally, the department’s Parole Administration Office would be placed under the supervision of the state Board of Parole beginning June 1, 2016. Finally, a provision of the bill would change a community re-entry program for incarcerated parents into a permanent program.

Senators advanced the bill from general file on a 32-0 vote.