LINCOLN- Last week, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln hosted the Flatwater Free Press in a forum titled "Nebraska's Prisons at a Crossroads," with the intention of discussing the future of prisons in Nebraska amid the highest overcrowding the state has seen.
The panel included Mark Foxall, former Douglas County Department of Corrections director, Doug Koebernick, Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System, Carla Walker, a formerly incarcerated veteran, and Jasmine Harris, Director of Policy at RISE, a nonprofit focused on helping the incarcerated prepare for societal reentry.
The forum discussed a wide range of topics, including the lack of resources available to inmates, the immense overcrowding, and the rampant understaffing in Nebraska prisons.
Walker, who served a 20-year sentence at Lincoln's Work Release Center, was recommended an anger management program prior to being put inside. However, as she served her sentence and got closer to release, the program was never offered to her.
"I'm a military veteran who committed a violent crime," said Walker, "You really want to send me back out there, and I haven't had help? I've been asking for help."
According to Harris, 95% of incarcerated individuals eventually integrate back into society, but have trouble finding work or housing. She went on to state that around 80% of the individuals who are rearrested do not have a job at the time of the arrest.
"That's where the rubber hits the road, where we need to be helping folks when we have the opportunity," said Harris, "If we don't, then what are we doing? We're rendering them to where they can't meet their basic needs. So then, what do people do? They return to those criminogenic behaviors because they have to survive."
Nebraska currently has a 31% recidivism rate, with many formerly incarcerated individuals finding their way back into the system within three years of release.
Foxall believes the issue can only be fixed with a large overhaul of the prison system, and believes a lack of housing, proper education, and job opportunities are the main culprits.
Mental health issues, said Foxall, are also a problem. "Trauma will begin before you arrive in jail, before you arrive in prison. It's very difficult to treat trauma in a place of confinement," he said.
Koebernick described during the panel an experience from his first day in the corrections system. When visiting the Omaha Corrections Center, Koebernick saw a single room housing eight men, all lying on top of eachother. This particular facility is meant to hold around 390 inmates, but currently houses 800.
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