Prison offers chance for rehabilitation

Jail is for punishment.

Prison is for public safety and inmate rehabilitation, according to officials.

Besides being locked behind razor wire with armed guards patrolling the perimeter versus being confined to a relatively low security county jail, the big difference is rehabilitation potential.

“The model of our prison system is treatment and rehabilitation with an emphasis both on public safety and rehabilitation as our core mission,” said Steve King, planning and research director for the Nebraska State Penitentiary. “We want to protect the public by keeping them in prison and return the inmate to the community rehabilitated.”

To facilitate rehabilitation, every male inmate who enters the state prison system begins at the Department of Corrections Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln for about the first two months of confinement. All female inmates enter a similar program at the women's prison in York.

“They're given a battery of tests and examinations,” King said. “We're learning more about the inmate and who they are and what they're treatment needs are.”

He said 85 percent of males and 90 percent of females in the state's prison system require some sort of drug and alcohol rehabilitation and nearly 100 percent have at least been exposed to drugs.

In addition to drug and alcohol evaluations, the physical and mental health of inmates also is evaluated.

“Based on the evaluation, we classify the inmate,” King said. “That determines where they go in the system. They go to different security levels according to public risk and treatment needs.”

An inmate could be incarcerated for theft but have serious drug issues and be recommended for inpatient treatment within the prison. These are similar to inpatient treatment centers in communities and create environments of recovery with addicts being grouped together for treatment.

Once an inmate leaves inpatient treatment after a few months, King said outpatient treatment within the prison is normally ordered. Depending on the severity of addiction, outpatient treatment also can be the initial treatment step for an inmate.

He said at the very least, a majority of inmates are at least recommended for chemical education classes within the system.

“An inmate can say no, but that hurts their good time and treatment is an incentive when going before the parole board,” King said.

In addition to dependency issues, he said about 18 to 20 percent of inmates have coinciding mental health issues for which counseling and therapy also are available within the system.

Dodge County Jail Administrator Doug Campbell said jails just aren't able to provide that kind of treatment.

He said if the jail's medical staff determines an inmate has mental health issues, that inmate can be referred to a mental health counselor who comes into the jail once a week. Also, if recommended, an inmate can meet with an off-site psychiatrist. All mental health visits have to be recommended by medical staff.

As far as drug and alcohol treatment, the only services offered are Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Dodge County Jail inmates can complete GED classes and Metropolitan Community College provides free literacy classes and teaches free English classes to Hispanics.

The only other sort of rehabilitative services are bible study and correspondence bible study. If an inmate is enrolled in school he can apply for school release.

Those same programs are available within the state's prison system, but are greatly expanded. At the state facilities, inmates can take several college courses offered through Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, many that can be transferred after release for college credit.

King said inmates also can learn job skills while incarcerated within the prison such as in the kitchen, where inmates take tests, learn processes and get food service certification.

“That way, when they go on outside, they carry a portfolio with them and hopefully can get a job better than dishwasher where they can earn a wage they can live off of,” King said.

Through a program called Private Sector Prison Industries, inmates can learn skills working in facility industries like furniture shop and a sewing shop. The products are sold outside of the prison by outside companies.

“You can get real world wages and learn real world skills inside the walls,” King said. “It's kind of like factories within the prison.”

He said a small portion of earned wages are available for inmates to use at the commissary inside of prison. The rest goes to victims, room and board, taxes and a mandatory savings account for post-release usage.

“We have both diploma and certification programs,” King said. “We're trying to equip our inmates so they'll have something to show when they leave.”

Religious programs from all different religions also are available for inmates throughout their sentences.

“We encourage them to take advantage of everything they can while in prison,” King said. “About 78 percent of them take advantage and don't come back. We only have a 22 percent recidivism rate.”

Sentences

In Nebraska, the most time a person can be sentenced to in jail is one year. Most people are sentenced to county jails out of county courts for misdemeanor offenses, but people also can be sentenced to county jail for lower class felonies out of district court if ordered. If awarded all possible good time in jail, an inmate serves approximately two-thirds of his sentence.

To be eligible for the state's prison system, a person has to be convicted of any felony charge or a Class I misdemeanor. Prison sentences can range from one year to life and if all possible good time is rewarded, an inmate can be paroled in as little as half of the low end of his sentence.