Bill would announce price tag of Nebraska prison sentences

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The cost of an inmate’s prison term would be made public under legislation up for a public hearing in the legislature Wednesday.

Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk, who proposed the bill, also wants the state to issue an annual report noting the costs of all sentences from the previous year.

Flood has compared that to the process the Legislature uses, with fiscal notes to indicate the cost of legislative proposals.

“I think that transparency in the process, in open court, allows taxpayers, court personnel, prosecutors, to understand what the real life cost is to the sentences that are imposed,” Flood said when initially proposing the bill.

Flood said he’s not critical of judges, and noted that prisons are full of people who deserve to be there, but he said spelling out the costs might have an impact.

Mike Flood is the founder and owner of News Channel Nebraska.