Report: Nebraska prison workforce crisis ‘alarmingly worse’

By GRANT SCHULTE
Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new watchdog report warns that Nebraska’s prisons face a persistent staffing crisis that has created dangerous conditions, including maximum-security units that are going unstaffed for hours at a time and one incident where a tired employee fell asleep on the job. The Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System warns in its annual report that the long-standing prison workforce shortage has become a “mass exodus” as burned-out employees leave their jobs. The independent watchdog agency was created six years ago and reports problems in the prison system to the Legislature. State officials say the state’s low unemployment rate is part of the problem, although some lawmakers see higher pay as a solution.