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Nebraska Supreme Court Clarifies Award of Time Served  Credit for Non-Citizen Awaiting Extradition

Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025

Filed under: Good Time, Federal Extradition Act, Credits

Nebraska Supreme Court Clarifies Award of Time Served Credit for Non-Citizen Awaiting Extradition by Matthew Clarke On December 6, 2024, the Supreme Court of Nebraska clarified when a sentencing court is required to award credit for time served while incarcerated in a foreign country awaiting extradition. It held that crediting …

Nebraska Considers Curbing Double-Bunking  in Restrictive Housing

Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025

Filed under: Failure to Protect (General), Overcrowding, Bedding

Nebraska Considers Curbing Double-Bunking in Restrictive Housing by 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 …

Watchdogs Fault Nebraska Prisons  for Suicide Response, Overpaid Staff

Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025

Filed under: Suicides, Guards/Staff, Staff Training

Watchdogs Fault Nebraska Prisons for Suicide Response, Overpaid Staff by Boris Bastidas On August 20, 2024, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (DCS) released a report detailing its investigation into three prisoner suicides, finding that DCS did not provide psychological autopsies after …

Nebraska Supreme Court Spanks Attorney General, Orders Felons Be Allowed to Vote

Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Attorney Misconduct, Felon Disenfranchisement Statute

Nebraska Supreme Court Spanks Attorney General, Orders Felons Be Allowed to Vote by Voting rights for Nebraskans with felony convictions were up in the air until October 16, 2024. That’s when the state Supreme Court ruled against Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R), who had declared a new re-enfranchisement law unconstitutional …

Nebraska Pioneers Diversion Program to Help Arrested Veterans Avoid Jail

Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025

Filed under: Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Rehabilitation Act, Veterans

Nebraska Pioneers Diversion Program to Help Arrested Veterans Avoid Jail by With a law signed by Gov. Jim Pillen (R) in April 2024, Nebraska became the first state to adopt a model program for diverting military veterans from jail into programs offering treatment for the issues underlying their arrest. When …

Contaminated Water a Longstanding Problem at Nebraska Women’s Prison

Article • June 1, 2024 • from PLN June, 2024

Filed under: Environmental Law, Water

Contaminated Water a Longstanding Problem at Nebraska Women’s Prison by “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink,” goes the line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. As Coleridge dramatized, water is essential to life, yet most people take it for granted. For those incarcerated, their access to drinking …

News in Brief

Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Within 48-hours of booking into the Morgan County Jail on August 29, 2023, Miles Rea Batson, 39, had two second-degree assault charges added to his public intoxication charge as well as another for disarming a law enforcement agent. WHNT in Huntsville reported that during booking …

Nebraska Watchdog Calls Use of Force Against Mentally Ill Prisoner Excessive and Unnecessary

Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Involuntary Treatment/Drugging

Nebraska Watchdog Calls Use of Force Against Mentally Ill Prisoner Excessive and Unnecessary by On May 2, 2023, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (DCS) released its investigation into a disturbance at Tecumseh State Correctional Facility nearly two years earlier, during which …

Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Sheriff’s Misconduct Conviction

Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Police/Govt Misconduct

Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Sheriff’s Misconduct Conviction by On May 26, 2023, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the conviction of former Dawes County Sheriff Karl J. Dailey for official misconduct. In a split decision the Court agreed with both a county court and a district court’s findings that Dailey was …

Walker v. Folts, NE, Complaint, Conditions of Confinement, 2023

Brief • December 1, 2023

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Toilets, Plumbing

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DNA Matches Dead Australian to Nebraska Prisoner Who Escaped 56 Years Ago

Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023

Filed under: DNA Testing/Samples, Escapes

DNA Matches Dead Australian to Nebraska Prisoner Who Escaped 56 Years Ago by After his death in 2010 at age 69, John Vincent Damon’s family members would occasionally walk through Tamborine Mountain Cemetery in Queensland, Australia, just to stand at his grave. He left behind a wife and two adult …

News in Brief

Article • September 15, 2023 • from PLN September, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: According to WSFA in Montgomery, a guard at the Montgomery County Detention Center was charged on July 18, 2023, with conspiracy to provide contraband to a prisoner as well as bribing a public official. Timothy Bernard Summerlin, 33, had worked at the lockup for roughly …

News in Brief

Article • August 15, 2023 • from PLN August, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard was arrested on June 10, 2023, for allegedly smuggling drugs, including meth, to a prisoner at Kilby Correctional Facility, 1819 News reported. Charlie Townsend, 28, resigned from his position upon his arrest by the Law Enforcement Services Division. …

News in Brief

Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A guard with the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was indicted on April 27, 2023, on charges he sexually abused two prisoners at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Aliceville, according to a report by the Birmingham News. Robert D. Smith allegedly had sexual intercourse …

Nebraska Parole Board Members Showing Up to Work More Often

Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023

Filed under: Parole Board Misconduct, Parole

Nebraska Parole Board Members Showing Up to Work More Often by Jordan Arizmendi, Chuck Sharman by Jordan Arizmendi and Chuck Sharman Attendance at parole hearings by all five members of the Nebraska Parole Board has improved, after a 43-month stretch from 2018 to 2021 when all five showed up for …

Office of Inspector General Nebraska-Use of Force Incident at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution-May 2023

Publication • May 2, 2023

Filed under: Excessive Force

Office of Inspector General Nebraska-Use of Force Incident at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution-May 2023 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE NEBRASKA CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM Use of Force Incident at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORT MAY 2, 2023 Doug Koebernick, Inspector General Zach Pluhacek, Assistant Inspector General Contents Executive …

Nebraska Pays $479,000 for Restrictive Housing Prisoner’s Murder While Double-Celled

Article • May 1, 2023 • from PLN May, 2023

Filed under: Prison/Jail Murders, Settlements, Confinement in Segregated Housing

Nebraska Pays $479,000 for Restrictive Housing Prisoner’s Murder While Double-Celled by Mark Wilson by Mark Wilson On May 10, 2022, the federal court for the District of Nebraska granted dismissal to the estate of a prisoner murdered by his cellmate, while the two were double-bunked despite being classified for restrictive …

Nebraska Supreme Court Puts Burden on Migrant Detainee to Prove Sentence Calculation Credit Error

Article • April 24, 2023

Filed under: U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Immigration Law/Offenses, Credits

Nebraska Supreme Court Puts Burden on Migrant Detainee to Prove Sentence Calculation Credit Error by Casey Bastian by Casey J. Bastian On March 10, 2023, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed a sentencing court’s jail credit calculation under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 47-503 (Reissue 2021), in a case where the amount …

Nebraska Assistant Warden Avoids Prosecution for Sexually Abusing Prisoner, Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charge and Gets a Year in Jail

Article • March 1, 2023 • from PLN March, 2023

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct

Nebraska Assistant Warden Avoids Prosecution for Sexually Abusing Prisoner, Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charge and Gets a Year in Jail by Benjamin Tschirhart by Benjamin Tschirhart On October 3, 2022, the same day her jury trial was scheduled to begin for sexually abusing a prisoner, a former assistant warden with …

News in Brief

Article • March 1, 2023 • from PLN March, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by News in Brief Alabama: On January 9, 2023, the Montgomery Police Department (MPD) arrested a guard at the city jail for an alleged off-duty assault, the Birmingham News reported. It’s unclear who filed the misdemeanor complaint against Reba Foulks, 36; MPD didn’t begin its investigation until …