Nearly 800 Nebraska inmates sign petition panning conditions

LINCOLN - Nearly 800 Nebraska State Penitentiary inmates — more than half the Lincoln prison’s population — have signed a petition sent to state officials and various news outlets decrying conditions at the prison.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the petition pans penitentiary administrators for putting the prison in modified lockdown. Because of the lockdown, meetings of self-betterment clubs or organizations have been limited or eliminated, and inmates have seen their use of the prison law library restricted.

That restriction, the petition says, impedes prisoners' access to the courts, attorneys, legislators, judges and other legal sources.

The petition also cites multiple changes in policies, procedures, rules, memorandums, protocols and inmate movement as problems.

Department spokeswoman Laura Strimple told the Journal Star that the department had not received the petition.