Ceremonial groundbreaking for new state prison

LINCOLN, Nebraska (KOLN) – Governor Pillen and other state leaders held the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new state prison.

The new prison will be the largest in the state and will incorporate natural and modern design elements.

“Our mission is simple: to keep people safe,” said Rob Jeffreys, director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

The campus will have 1,500 beds in three separate complexes with annex buildings.

“We want to build a culture of success from the ground up. That work is currently being done every day in our facilities, so it's just something we do,” Jeffreys said. “This facility will help us facilitate that even better and more magnificently with the acoustics, the sound, the programming space and the natural light.”

90% of people incarcerated in Nebraska will eventually return to society. The new facility will help provide resources to better equip inmates.

“Today is really a day when Nebraska is seen as a leader across the country in some ways in helping people get back to being productive citizens and helping their families,” said Governor Pillen.

The new facility will replace the current state prison, parts of which date back to 1869.

10/11 spoke to Jeffreys in a one-on-one interview earlier this summer.

“It's going to be shut down. I mean, the things that we're talking about, we're never going to be able to fix them in a way that's long-term, long-term, sustainable, you know, the people that are housed there,” Jeffreys said. “Those things are going to continue to happen as far as the water. The heating, the plumbing. You know, the electrical.”

NDCS has faced some resistance in building the new campus as it would likely be overcrowded on day one.

Some politicians, including Omaha Senator Terrell McKinney, expressed doubts that the plant would be shut down at all.

“They want to decommission it to use it for a lower level of incarceration and still use the facility, and I think they should tell voters and taxpayers that they will continue to use the complex to house individuals,” McKinney said.

The prison is scheduled to be completed between May 20 and 28.

The construction team began preparing the site in May of this year and approximately 1.4 million cubic metres of earth will be moved to level the site.

Click here to subscribe to our daily 10/11 NOW digest and breaking news alerts sent directly to your email inbox.

Copyright 2024 KOLN. All rights reserved.