Smart Justice

For too long, politicians have pushed mass incarceration, draining resources from the very communities that need investment the most. The result? An overcrowded prison system that continues to grow faster than any other in the nation and a school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately impacts youth of color.

Our neighbors, especially Nebraskans of color, Indigenous peoples, and economically disadvantaged community members, are unnecessarily confined in an understaffed and overcrowded prison system that violates their rights, puts their health and safety at risk, and leaves them in a worse condition than when they entered.

We’ve been in this work for decades — taking on unconstitutional prison conditions, holding law enforcement accountable, and protecting the rights of currently and formerly incarcerated Nebraskans. Alongside partners, advocates, and neighbors across Nebraska, we’ve achieved important victories and laid a strong foundation for the work ahead.

We're pushing for bold changes to end mass incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal legal system, and to invest in true community safety. We recognize that the criminal legal system has disproportionately targeted Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other communities of color, leading to systemic harm and inequities. Our goals reflect a commitment to dismantling these injustices and building a safer, more just society for all:

• Expand diversion programs as an alternative to incarceration to keep people in their communities.
• Reduce the prison population, halt any redeployment of the Nebraska State Penitentiary after its replacement opens, and prevent the growth of any additional detention facilities in Nebraska.
• Ensure humane conditions, including access to health care, for incarcerated Nebraskans.
• Enforce and strengthen Nebraska’s bans on extreme solitary confinement and reduce racial disparities in the use of isolation.
• Hold law enforcement accountable to follow the rule of law and stop racial profiling, over-policing, and over-prosecuting in communities of color.
• Build leadership capacity and sustainable power with a strong, broad, diverse coalition of directly impacted Nebraskans, advocates, criminal legal reform experts, nonprofit direct service providers, faith leaders, and policymakers.

We can keep pouring money into a broken system that devastates families and communities, or we can invest in real safety — jobs, education, mental health care, and rehabilitation.

It’s time to choose people over prisons.