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The state’s prisons remain overcrowded. They are short-staffed and the current employees are over-worked. Assaults on staff continue. The watched pot continues to boil.

Nebraska's prison system currently has 2,127 more inmates than design capacity, putting it at 163 percent capacity. If that number doesn't go down, Nebraska must declare a prison-overcrowding emergency on July 1, 2020.

It’s not a good situation for staff or those who are incarcerated. It’s frustrating to say the least and what led the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha to offer a bill (LB686) that would change the timeline for what happens after the Correctional System Overcrowding Emergency is declared. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

The current trigger, a population more than 140 percent of design capacity on July 1, 2020, requires the governor to declare an overcrowding emergency. Lathrop said that means the parole board would have to look through the list of inmates and begin paroling inmates until they get to 125 percent.

That’s not going to happen in an afternoon, Lathrop said. Relying on the Parole Board to be mindful of its obligation under statute and to be mindful of public safety, hopefully it will be done in a thoughtful way.