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In April of 2023, Governor Jim Pillen appointed Rob Jeffreys to be director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Nebraska Public Media’s Dale Johnson talked with Director Jeffreys about Nebraska’s over-crowded prisons, building a new prison and his philosophy on solitary confinement.
Dale Johnson: There are a total of about 5,500 inmates in Nebraska's prison system compared to 38,000, in Illinois, you reduced that to 27,000 during your four years there. How did you go about doing that?
Rob Jeffreys: Great question. So one of the things that helped me along the way, I mean, you never let a good pandemic go to waste. We were able to facilitate some legislative changes to incentivize the population with reduction in sentencing based on their behavior and their program completion. And then we were able to add good-time credit at the end of sentences available for the entire population. It was theirs to lose, it was all built on incentivizing the population, and be able to create those reentry pathways for them to be back out to the community. I mean, that's important. I mean, we can program and program them as much as we can inside. But if we don't have that smooth transition and those pathways into the community, we're not setting them up for success.
Johnson: Nebraska has about 1,800 More inmates than facilities were meant to hold. A new 1,500 Bed prison is going to be built starting in September. What can you do between now and the time the new prison is estimated to be finished in 2027, to prevent that facility from not opening up at or above capacity?
Jeffreys: Well, that's a great question as well. Thank you, Dale, here's the thing that I like to use, I like to use “control the controllables,” understanding what we have control over so we don't fitness people to prison, but what we do, our responsibility and our mission, is to make sure that we provide them the correct programming so they can be successful once they release. So we're providing a lot of our emphasis on programming, making sure we get good cognitive programming and making sure we're addressing the needs of individuals when they come through the front door, making sure we're setting them up for success for reentry pathways out to community, making sure there's a continuum of programming from not just the facility, but also out into the parole department as well, too. And then we have great partnership with our other state partners. I can't thank them enough. I mean, the Department of Motor Vehicles to help facilitate those documentations. The Department of Human Services about making sure they get their Medicaid better than fair, making sure they're getting their benefits reinstated, and what have you. So all those things transfer to an individual back into the community if they're set up for success. And let me also add, one of the most important things that keeps people from returning back to prison is making sure they're gainfully employed. So we want to just make sure our vocational programs and our partnerships in our community are addressing those employment opportunities. When people are released out to the community, we just recently had an awesome relationship with Hill Brothers pro fleet in the CDL Driving Academy. Awesome opportunity. This is what Nebraska can do different to make sure that we get these partnerships, not just with the fields, but the but this is also the city of Lincoln, too. So it was like city, the state and our community partners to come together to help transform Nebraska. These are people coming out and they just need to be gainfully employed so they can contribute to society.
Johnson: Staying with the building of a new prison, I found an August 2022 report from the Justice Policy Center that concluded that states should consider eliminating the practice when it comes to solitary confinement in favor of safer and more ethical practices. So as the new prison is being built, will there be space for solitary confinement?
Jeffreys: I don't want to use the term solitary confinement. I like to use the term special management because we have to understand why people are placed in a special management or restrictive housing. It’s because of their behavior, their violent behavior, assaultive or attempted of assaults, if they attempt to escape, or a threat of violence or anything. This is a small percent of the population, as well. So I just want to emphasize on that, as you mentioned, we got over 5,500 people, if I look at my special management, restrictive housing numbers, I'm only talking about 143 people. I don’t want to let the tail wag the dog here, but what I want to concentrate on are those 90% of people who are being released within three years back to the community, that’s the population that is most important. That's the population that needs to be productive. That's the population we need to provide programming to ensure that they are successful back out in the community. And hopefully, the way we have our mindset around this new prison is going to be an environment it's going to be conducive for programming. It's going to be set up with success on day one. People are going to understand that we're trying to cultivate a culture that emphasizes the reinforcement of positive behavior in rehabilitation.
Johnson: Nebraska rarely carries out executions there have been four since 1976, the last one by lethal injection in 2018. The Death Penalty Information Center says the shelf life of some lethal injection drugs is 45 days and I bring that up, sir to ask if Nebraska has any lethal injection drugs in storage?
Jeffreys: Well, we are not in currently possession of the chemicals needed for lethal injection.
Johnson: Nebraska struggled for years to get drugs for executions, because most manufacturers refuse to openly supply them. You've been in Nebraska for more than a year. Has there been any effort to find a new source for lethal injection drugs?
Jeffreys: Not at this time, sir. But I will mention, as I previously stated in the other question regarding the death penalty, we will comply with the order of the Court and if the Supreme Court issues a death warrant we will do everything within our authority to comply with that warrant. And we will look for those drugs when that time presents itself.
Johnson: So if you would allow me one more question on the death penalty, to your knowledge, has the Corrections Department had any conversations about alternative methods of execution?
Jeffreys: No, sir.
Johnson: Nebraska’s director of corrections, Rob Jeffreys.
Jeffreys: Thank you, sir.
Johnson: I'm Dale Johnson, Nebraska Public Media News.