Johanns says he'll veto budget

LINCOLN -- McCook's Work Ethic Camp might receive some of the inmates freed if a prison in Lincoln is closed, but Gov. Mike Johanns said he would veto the entire budget bill if the proposal to close the Lincoln facility is included.

Johanns called the proposal, passed by the Legislature on Tuesday, "irresponsible and kind of breathtaking."

"The public will freak if we turn 500 prisoners loose," Johanns said. "To me it's just amazing that we're down to this."

Closing the Lincoln Correctional Center as of Oct. 1, 2004, would save about $10 million a year but just $7.3 million in the current two-year budget because of the timing of the closure.

It would be left up to the state parole board to decide who would be set free to address a loss of 500 medium and maximum security beds at the prison. The prison employs about 230 people. Details of the plan would be worked out next legislative session.

The budget-writing Appropriations Committee had preliminarily recommended closing the McCook work camp and a juvenile prison in Omaha, but decided to keep them open after hearing protests about the implications of the closing.

Closing the prison would be devastating, said Department of Corrections spokesman Steve King. He frantically lobbied senators against adopting the amendment, which King said the department was not made aware of until debate began on it late Tuesday afternoon.

Harold Clarke, director of the state prison system, said he was surprised lawmakers took the action without giving the department any advance notice the idea was going to be considered.

Once presented with information about how critical the prison is, Clarke said he hoped lawmakers would reconsider.

Programs offered at the prison, such as one for sex offenders, would have to be shifted to other prisons or eliminated, King said. Also, not all of the inmates could be sent to lower security prisons, like the work camp in McCook, he said.

The amendment to close the prison was adopted on a 29-8 vote. It is now part of the main budget bill, which remains in the second of three rounds of debate.

Because the prison would not close until next year, lawmakers could undo the decision before it takes effect.

Johanns predicted lawmakers would reconsider the idea before they pass a budget this year. A motion to reconsider the vote was to be debated Wednesday.

"I think cooler heads will prevail. I sure as heck hope they do. This just doesn't make any sense whatsoever," Johanns said. "I've never quite seen an elected body get so carried away with its own rhetoric.

Senators said given the state's $756 million budget shortfall, dramatic cost-saving ideas were needed.

"This would be a very bold move," said Sen. Dwite Pedersen of Elkhorn, who introduced the proposal.

Opponents said the move was being made too quickly without a firm understanding of the ramifications.

"This is not a good way of doing things," said Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler.

Lincoln Sen. DiAnna Schimek likened the proposal to a train coming down the track.

"I would caution you all not to get stampeded into this," she said. "You're really setting us up to have a lot of problems in our correctional system."

She said if lawmakers were so amenable to closing state facilities to save money, they should also close Peru State College and the Norfolk Regional Center.

Some of the inmates at the prison would be transferred to other prisons, while others who are nearing parole would be let free early, Pedersen said.

There are 485 inmates who are within six months of being paroled as of May 13, Pedersen said.

Shutting down the Lincoln prison was not considered by the committee, proposed by the Department of Corrections or Johanns.

Other states have closed prisons and let inmates go free to deal with budget problems, said Omaha Sen. Pat Bourne.

"This is not unusual. This is not unprecedented," he said.

At the same time the prison is closed, the state would spend another $1 million on bolstering parole to deal with the up to 500 inmates who would be let out early.

The Lincoln Correctional Center is one of nine prisons operated by the state, not counting the work camp. As of April 14 the prison held 468 inmates. It is located in west Lincoln near Pioneers Park and is separate from the Nebraska State Penitentiary, where the electric chair is housed.