Claim: Nebraska state officials say prison conditions have improved.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Nebraska State Penitentiary
text: Nebraska State Penitentiary The Nebraska State Penitentiary (NSP) is a state correctional facility for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Located in Lincoln, it is the oldest state correctional facility in Nebraska, opening in 1869. Until after World War I, it was the only adult correctional facility in the state. During 1980-1981, the existing cellblocks constructed during the second half of the 19th century were replaced by four (later five) modular housing units. A new administrative complex and an EPA-approved multi-fuel power plant were also completed at the same time. An existing dormitory building constructed in the 1950s was retained

title: Nebraska State Penitentiary
text: improve and personalize the delivery of rehabilitative services. The NSP has been accredited by the American Correctional Association since 1985. The NSP offers a variety of education/rehabilitation programs designed to enhance an inmate's chances for successful community adjustment upon release. These include Educational/Life Skills and Vocational Programs, Self-Improvement (Mental Health and Control Unit Program), (Residential and Non-residential Substance Abuse Treatment), Residential Treatment Community (RTC), Religious Programming and Self-Betterment Activities), and Support Services The NSP is the site of major components of the Agency's Cornhusker State Industries (CSI) program. Nebraska State Penitentiary The Nebraska State Penitentiary (NSP) is a state correctional

title: Nebraska State Penitentiary
text: as a medium security facility and two new 100 bed dormitory units were opened in 1998. A thirty-six bed control unit also built in the 1950s continues in use as a high security segregation facility. The Industries Plant, Laundry and other support buildings were retained from the older facility as well. The inmate population at the NSP typically consists of offenders aged 21 years and above, serving medium to longer sentences. The Nebraska State Penitentiary uses the Unit Management concept designed to improve control and staff/inmate relationships by dividing the larger institution population into smaller, more manageable groups and to

title: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
text: must be prepared from food supplies on hand at the prison. Nebraska Department of Correctional Services The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) is the state corrections agency for the State of Nebraska. NDCS currently has 10 institutions confining over 4,000 inmates. All male inmates coming into the system enter through the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center where they are evaluated and assigned to other facilities. All female inmates are housed at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. The agency's headquarters is in Building #1 in the Lincoln Regional Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska is one of nine states nationwide having

title: Nebraska Correctional Center for Women
text: the American Correctional Association since 1981. Nebraska Correctional Center for Women The Nebraska Correctional Center for Women (NCCW) is a state correctional facility for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Located just west of York, Nebraska, it is the only secure state facility to house adult women. NCCW, began operation in May, 1920, through an act of the Nebraska State Legislature establishing the "State Reformatory for Women." The original facility consisted of a 2-story house that was used as an inmate and staff residence. The facility was a working dairy farm. The inmates assisted with the livestock. The current institution

title: Tecumseh State Correctional Institution
text: are within a week of their execution, who are housed at Nebraska State Penitentiary). In 2013 it was over capacity, with 1,008 prisoners. A prisoner riot occurred in 2015. A riot on May 10, 2015 resulted in the deaths of two inmates and injuries to two guards. Another incident occurred on March 2, 2017, resulting in the deaths of two inmates. Tecumseh State Correctional Institution The Tecumseh State Correctional Institution (TSCI) is a medium / maximum security state correctional institution for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. The TSCI is in Nemaha Township, Johnson County, about two miles north of

title: Nebraska Correctional Center for Women
text: Nebraska Correctional Center for Women The Nebraska Correctional Center for Women (NCCW) is a state correctional facility for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Located just west of York, Nebraska, it is the only secure state facility to house adult women. NCCW, began operation in May, 1920, through an act of the Nebraska State Legislature establishing the "State Reformatory for Women." The original facility consisted of a 2-story house that was used as an inmate and staff residence. The facility was a working dairy farm. The inmates assisted with the livestock. The current institution consists of 17 buildings on of

title: Rice/Poindexter case
text: uncertain until Senator Chuck Hagel facilitated release on over a thousand pages of relevant documents in 2001. In 1993, the Nebraska Parole Board voted unanimously to commute both men's sentences to time served. The Pardons Board in Nebraska consists of the Governor, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. They have taken no action to commute the sentences per the 1993 recommendation. One Board member has even asserted that there are "no circumstances" under which he would consider commutation. In 2014, Ed Poindexter was denied parole. He will not be considered again for 10 years, at which time he

title: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
text: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) is the state corrections agency for the State of Nebraska. NDCS currently has 10 institutions confining over 4,000 inmates. All male inmates coming into the system enter through the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center where they are evaluated and assigned to other facilities. All female inmates are housed at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. The agency's headquarters is in Building #1 in the Lincoln Regional Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska is one of nine states nationwide having all adult facilities accredited through the American Correctional Association. Previously the

title: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
text: department operated juvenile correctional facilities, including the Youth Rehabilitation & Treatment Center - Kearney (YRTC-K) in Kearney, a juvenile correctional facility for boys, and the Youth Rehabilitation & Treatment Center - Geneva (YRTC-G) in unincorporated Fillmore County, near Geneva, for girls. After 23 years of operation from the Department of Correctional Services; on January 1, 1997, the youth correctional facilities were transferred out of the scope of the department; the facilities are now managed by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Since the establishment of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, 6 officers have died in the line

title: Nebraska Diagnostic and Evaluation Center
text: at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center. In addition, the institution houses ninety-day evaluators sentenced by the court for assessment, county safe keepers, interstate transfers and returned parolees and escapees. Initially the facility was set-up to handle one inmate per bed (176 inmates), but overcrowding has forced the prison to add beds to the single person rooms and has brought those numbers consistently over 200-250% capacity resulting in the average population of 470. Due to the short length of stay at the institution, there are no industry programs and limited education programs. Each newly admitted inmate, following review of the admission

title: Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services
text: the scope of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services The Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) is a state agency of Nebraska, headquartered in Lincoln. The agency provides health and human services for both families and regular patients. Youth Rehabilitation & Treatment Center - Kearney (YRTC-K) in Kearney is the juvenile correctional facility for boys. Youth Rehabilitation & Treatment Center - Geneva (YRTC-G) in unincorporated Fillmore County, near Geneva, is the juvenile correctional facility for girls. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services managed those facilities for 23 years; on January 1,

title: Capital punishment in Nebraska
text: aggravating factor making the defendant eligible for the death penalty. The panel includes the presiding judge of the trial and two others judges appointed for that purpose by the state's chief justice. The death sentence must be unanimous, otherwise life imprisonment is imposed. Clemency is decided by a three-member board comprising the governor, the attorney general and the secretary of state. Death row inmates are housed at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution (for males) and Nebraska Correctional Center for Women (for females). Executions have been carried out at Nebraska State Penitentiary (Lincoln) since 1903. Aggravating factors making murder punishable by death

title: Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex
text: focus the Board more carefully on the statutory criteria and promote a more careful consideration of the evidence, while at the same time affording the inmates to contest factual inaccuracies in the record. The marginal increased burden on the Board was slight in comparison to the increased fairness these features would provide. Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex, 442 U.S. 1 (1979), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that when state law requires the state to grant parole whenever a

title: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
text: transferred to the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution. Executions still take place at the Penitentiary. Inmates who receive an execution date would be transferred to NSP approximately within a week of that date and would be housed in the penitentiary hospital on what is called the "death watch." While on the death watch, condemned inmates may have special visits from family, friends, religious representatives and attorneys. The visits are supervised by staff assigned to the death watch and take place in the suite of rooms set aside for the condemned inmates. Inmates may also request a special "last meal." Such meals

title: Criminal justice reform in the United States
text: policy. In October 2017, Montana signed into law House Bill 133. This bill reforms the system by reforming sentencing for a wide range of first-time misdemeanors or by eliminating incarceration time. It also got rid of mandatory minimum sentences for felony drug offenses but revised the mandatory minimum statutes for felony sex crimes. Nebraska passed three bills reforming the criminal justice system. Legislative Bill 172 which was directed towards sentencing of midlevel felon charges by reducing or getting id of the mandatory minimum sentences. LB 173 was directed towards the “three-strikes” law by reducing the requirements to only violent crimes.

title: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
text: of duty. All executions in Nebraska since 1903 have taken place within the Nebraska State Penitentiary. Prior to 1903, executions were handled in the county where the offense took place. From 1903 to 1913, the means of execution was by hanging. Since 1913, it has been by the electric chair. A total of 8 inmates were executed by hanging and 15 inmates by means of the electric chair. (23 Total) There have been approximately 68 inmates housed on death row from 1903 to the present. Death row in Nebraska was housed at NSP from 1903 to 2002 when it was

title: Nebraska Innocence Project
text: prisoners, the Nebraska Innocence Project sends requests to the Midwest Innocence Project, based in Kansas City, Missouri who prepares the cases and sends them back to Nebraska for investigation and possible litigation. Legal director, Tricia Bushnell assists the Nebraska chapter by organizing cases and finding experts who could help the case. Commonly referred to the Beatrice 6, a 1985 case in Gage County involved the rape and murder of 68-year-old woman, Helen Wilson, in her apartment. Six people, three men and three women were found guilty of committing the crime. After surfacing evidence that their conviction was based on coerced

title: Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex
text: be released when he had served the full length of his sentence, less any good time credits. Discretionary parole meant that a prisoner who satisfied the state's criteria for being a good candidate for early release would be released in the discretion of the state's Board of Parole. Under Nebraska's discretionary parole system, all prisoners were reviewed each year regardless of whether they were yet eligible for parole. At this initial hearing, the Board examined the prisoner's entire preconfinement and postconfinement record and considered any statements or letters the prisoner presented on his own behalf. If the Board determined at

title: Nebraska Diagnostic and Evaluation Center
text: order to ensure legal commitment, begins participation in an intensive medical, psychological, and social assessment process. This process culminates in the finalization of an individual classification study and specific programming recommendations to the Classification Officer relative to custody status and institutional placement. Varied program services are offered and encouraged through recreation and library programs. The maintenance of family and community ties is encouraged through the visitation, mail and telephone programs. Religious programming is also available to the inmate population. Several other opportunities including Alcoholics Anonymous, Parenting Classes, and a Pre-Release program are available for inmate participation. Nebraska Diagnostic and Evaluation