Nebraska Considers Curbing Double-Bunking in Restrictive Housing
Since 2017, at least three prisoners in Nebraska have died of suspected homicides while locked in double-bunked cells. Nebraska, whose prison system routinely operates at 140% capacity, has paid nearly $900,000 in lawsuit settlements related to the deaths, the Flatwater Free Press reported. Now, the state legislature is considering a law, Legislative Bill 99 (LB 99), that would give prisoners the choice to double bunk in restrictive housing, instead of being required to.
The bill follows years of calls from experts and prison watchdog groups that say double-bunking—the practice of caging two people in a cell meant for one—is a dangerous and inhumane way to address prison overcrowding. “Restrictive housing is a volatile setting,” highlighted an inspector general’s report on the 2022 death of a prisoner who died two days after another prisoner was placed in his cell. “Staff cannot be expected to determine which cellmates are safe and which ones are not in these circumstances.”
While LB 99 would allow a vulnerable prisoner to avoid sharing a cell with a potentially harmful cellmate, the current bill does not mandate the DOC to decrease double-bunking beyond requiring prisoners to agree to the practice in writing. Despite this vagueness, LB 99 could mark a step forward in preventing entirely avoidable deaths in Nebraska prisons.
Additional sources: Filter Magazine, The Nebraska Examiner
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