In many Nebraskan county jails, there simply isn’t enough space for inmates.
While inmate farming has helped helped alleviate overcrowding in jails, some county sheriffs said the overcrowding has influenced sentencing decisions at the judicial level.
Alan Kotschwar, sheriff of the Red Willow County jail, said he’s seen judges give out more probations since the county built a new jail in 2014. This brought the maximum number of inmates from 6 or 7 to 16 or 17, and helped employees at the sheriff’s department stop shuffling inmates back and forth between Red Willow County and counties with spare beds.
“Judges had places to now sentence the inmates to,” she said. “They didn’t want us to do a lot of transporting, so they would give more probation at that time.”
According to information from the state of Nebraska judicial branch,…show more content… “They don’t want to be on probation.”
Bahensky said he’s seen a number of people put on probation who don’t want to check in with probation officers or worrying about violating parole.
Corey Steel, the state court administrator, said he doesn’t believe judges let the number of available beds in their counties influence their sentencing.
“I would never want to second guess what a judge’s decision is at sentencing,” he said. “I would think that judges would make their sentencing options best based on law and based on the circumstances that are in front of them, not whether there’s capacity in a jail.”
Steel said the rise in parole sentences that followed the passing of Legislative Bill 605 is a huge benefit for inmates.
With LB 605, Steel said judges now have additional options when sentencing, and can give lower-class felonies a probation sentencing. Additionally, the supervision and services that go hand-in-hand with probation can help the person find jobs or housing and provide treatments to aid mental health or end substance
