ACLU-Nebraska: Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself

Lonnie Thomas was a non-violent felon incarcerated for financial crimes. He is a young African-American man who was HIV+ prior to being sent to the Nebraska State Penitentiary to serve his sentence. For the first couple of years, Lonnie was a model prisoner: he had no serious misconduct reports and he was taking college classes to obtain a degree to ensure a future after prison. In 1998, he asked the prison officials’ help to protect him from a violent felon who was housed with him. The prison’s response was to place Lonnie in temporary solitary confinement pending new quarters—but they never moved Lonnie back. He was in solitary confinement for over four years despite the fact that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The prison did not provide mental health counseling, college classes, support groups, recreation, or employment for the solitary inmates. Because the prison was overcrowded, Lonnie—who never committed a violent crime—was housed on Death Row. Lonnie’s lawsuit, seeking injunctive relief for other inmates in solitary confinement to get rehabilitative services as well as monetary damages, was dismissed by the trial court. In 2003, the Nebraska Court of Appeals agreed, finding the prison officials had wide latitude to make decisions about prisoner housing. Though Lonnie's lawsuit was unsuccessful, he was released on parole while ACLU Nebraska represented him and he reports that other inmates he's talked to indicate the policy of segregating HIV+ inmates seems to have changed since his release.

Some prisoners choose to represent themselves. Others only get to see their attorneys infrequently and rely on correspondence to keep in touch. In 2003, the Saline County Sheriff's office announced they were no longer going to allow jail staff to act as notary publics to inmates. A notary public is a form of official witness that's required on many legal documents. The Sheriff's office said the inmates' attorneys would have to provide the notary service, yet many prisoners either did not have an attorney or did not see their attorney often, since the Public Defender for Saline County was responsible for covering three large rural counties simultaneously and simply couldn't visit every week. ACLU Nebraska pledge to file suit, but the case was resolved prior to legal action; the Saline County Sheriff restored notary public service to all inmates.

ACLU Nebraska intervenes several times a month on behalf of prisoners, jail inmates, and pre-trial detainees who need basic life-saving medical attention or prescription medication. Sometimes the inmate needs something as basic as their asthma inhaler or their insulin. Sometimes the inmate is in dire need of access to mental health care and medication. Sometimes the need is to accommodate a physical disability by repairing a wheelchair or allowing an inmate who is deaf to have their hearing aids. We work constantly to bring these needs to the correctional facility's attention. We issued a report in 2003 on the problems we've seen--click here to read more details.