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The writer, of Omaha, is a state senator representing District 20 in the Nebraska Legislature.

Recent news reports indicate it will cost the state an estimated $241 million to build a new 1,600-bed, medium-to-maximum security prison in Nebraska. With so many pressing needs in our state, for property tax reform above all, a quarter of a billion dollars for a new prison is an unjustifiable expense. That is particularly true because there is ample evidence that inmates spend extra time in prison due to a lack of required training and programming. Prison sentences are unnecessarily long in the absence of sentencing reform and due to the correctional system’s unwillingness to use minimum security facilities for low-level, nonviolent criminals.

It defies logic. While crime rates have dropped throughout the country, felony convictions have actually increased in Nebraska. Nationally, prison populations have declined by 7% over the last decade, while Nebraska’s rates have increased 21%. Using the FBI’s numbers, Pew Research reported that violent crime rates fell 51% between 1993 and 2018. The U.S. property crime rate today is also far below its peak level. FBI data show the rate fell by 54% between 1993 and 2018.