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| Nebraska Jail Offers Incentives To Keep Peace |
| By KETV |
| Published: 10/21/2002 |
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Administrators at the Douglas County jail are turning to incentives to keep the peace inside the cells. Wardens recently surprised the inmates with pizza from a local restaurant. Administrators and inmates agree the pizza is just one step to help reduce tension inside the prison walls. One problem is overcrowding. On average, there are about 100 more inmates at the jail above its capacity of 761. That means about 30 men are forced to sleep on a gym floor, and all share one bathroom. In addition, construction of a jail addition means inmates can't have visitors. 'It's been hard for us not to have visits, so that kind of made up for it in a sense because it's been hard for us not to see our loved ones,' inmate Doreen Horvath said. Because of the construction, inmates are being asked to do things that are not in compliance with Nebraska jail standards. 'The inmates have done a good job and complied with what we've asked them to do. They've kept tensions down and it's helped make a safe environment in a situation that could be very volatile,' warden Ann O'Connor said. More incentives are on the way, including stationery and cheaper phone calls. 'If we can create happier inmates, it leads to less fights and less of a chance of people getting hurt,' O'Connor said. No tax dollars were used to buy the pizza. The funds came from profits at the jail's commissary. The addition to the jail is expected to be complete in July 2004. The construction has also been hard on jail employees. They have been working a lot of overtime recently. Sometimes the jail is locked down five hours early because there aren't enough officers. Because of a tight county budget, there are no plans to add more officers any time soon. |
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