LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska state officials are pushing back against allegations that prisoners aren’t receiving proper health care and mental health treatment due to deliberate indifference by the corrections department.
The Nebraska attorney general’s office argued in a court filing Tuesday that the Department of Correctional Services provides excellent access to health care and has invested millions in new facilities and employees in recent years.
The filing came in response to inmates represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, which filed a lawsuit in 2017. The inmates are now asking a judge to grant them class-action status, which state officials oppose.
Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Ryan Post says the prison system still has problems to overcome, but those challenges aren’t constitutional violations.