Senators debate prison reform in Nebraska Legislature

Sen. Steve Lathrop pushes prison reform bill LB 920

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Legislative Bill 920 continued to be debated in the State Capitol on Wednesday.

The goal of the bill is to reform the criminal justice system to help with overcrowding and understaffing in Nebraska prisons.

Sen. Steve Lathrop said the bill would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent felons; penalties for drug possession, theft and burglaries; and streamline the parole process for eligible inmates.

Lathrop said the prison overcrowding emergency won’t disappear anytime soon and won’t be solved by building a new prison.

“We will not be out of the overcrowding emergency; we will not have addressed overcrowding; we will have built additional capacity as we have tried to no avail,” he said. “You can see we can’t build as fast as the place is filling up. ”

Gov. Pete Ricketts said the bill jeopardizes public safety and is opposed to the bill’s “soft on crime” measures.

Sen. Suzanne Geist shares the same sentiment as the governor.

“If we say OK, well, it’s just a little bit of drugs, and you get arrested a second time, well, OK, it’s just a little bit of drugs or a third or a fourth and we’re not going to make it a felony until the fifth and sixth arrest, do we really care about people?” Geist said.

Senators will continue to debate the legislative bill.