LINCOLN- The ACLU of Nebraska dropped a major lawsuit over the state's prison conditions Friday. Attorney General Doug Peterson praised his attorneys after they proved the ACLU did not prove any of their claims of overcrowding, substandard mental and healthcare, overuse of solitary confinement and did not provide accommodations for prisoners with disabilities.

Peterson said they turned over a lot of stones to try to disprove the 28 tours of state prisons by experts, including depositions by 42 prison staffers and the 400,000 pages of documents. The case took a major hit in June after a federal judge refused to give the case a class-action status. The Attorney General maintains that many of the improvements the ACLU wanted to see in the lawsuit have already been started.

Danielle Conrad, the executive director for the ACLU, said Peterson's claims are simply untrue. Peterson acknowledges that the state has more work to do, especially with the issue of overcrowding. The state saved a large sum of money through the dismissal of the case. Arizona, which faced a similar ACLU challenge, spent $11 million and ended up settling the case. Nebraska spent $688,000 on this case.

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