NDCS Plans To Reduce Prison Numbers

The Nebraska Department Of Correctional Services is asking more than 600 inmates to step forward if they’d like to serve out the remainder of their sentences in their home states. The NDCS said in letters to the prisoners last week that completing all or part of their sentences in the other states would let some inmates be closer to family and friends.

State Sen. Steve Lathrop is chairman of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, and he said to the media that the letters show the department is trying to find ways to reduce prison overcrowding. Department Chief of Staff Laura Strimple says it would be up to the receiving states – some of witch have overcrowding problems of their own – to approve any transfers.

A spokesman for the prisons department in neighboring Iowa told The Associated Press that his department would consider whether transfers would be in the best interests of the requesting inmates, among other considerations such as Iowa’s capacity and security concerns.