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June 29, 2020Lincoln, Neb. |  By: AP

Nebraska officials say prison crowding not easily solved

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Five years after Nebraska lawmakers approved a sweeping plan to reduce prison crowding, state officials are only marginally closer to fixing the problem despite millions of dollars in additional funding.

Nebraska is virtually certain to fall into an "overcrowding emergency," having missed a state-imposed deadline to reduce its inmate population below 140% of what its facilities were designed to hold. The emergency designation will force Nebraska officials to consider paroling all inmates who are eligible.

It isn't expected to change much, however, because state prison and parole officials said they've already taken steps to speed up the process and they don't plan to deviate much from what they've already been doing.