ACLU NE Reacts To NDCS Initiative To Build New Prison

(KFOR NEWS February 19, 2020) ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director, Danielle Conrad, reacted to Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Director, Scott Frakes, announcing he would soon be issuing a request for information (RFI) in order to identify possible options for the construction, maintenance and creation of new prison capacity.

Conrad said building any new prison – including one potentially built by and leased from a private entity – will only add to current problems while costing taxpayers millions.

“I cannot understand why the department would want to embrace a business model that depends on locking up more and more of our Nebraska neighbors,” Conrad said. “Nebraska is struggling to adequately staff the facilities we already have and partnering with a private company only opens the door for increased human rights violations that we’ve seen in other states. We should be focused on diverting people out of our prison system and reuniting families instead of building new beds in a never-ending attempt to keep up with our broken system of mass incarceration.”