Omaha Senator Justin Wayne, chair of the Judiciary Committee, has offered a bill that would put Nebraska’s Legislature in charge of the state’s prison system, which is currently under the purview of the executive branch.
Given the way things have been going with the Department of Correctional Services, especially the selection of a site for a new prison in northeast Lincoln that was changed to an allegedly more acceptable site at the last minute, I like Wayne’s proposal.
If made law, it would put senators in charge of the “general management, control and government” of the Department of Correctional Services, giving the Legislature hiring power over the department’s director.Wayne said the power to make such a change is already prescribed to lawmakers in Nebraska’s Constitution, which grants the Legislature the power to manage “all state charitable, mental, reformatory and penal institutions.”
