Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman acknowledges he didn’t want to spend the money to build a new prison.
But, Heineman denies that motivated his administration to allow prison sentences to be miscalculated and inmates let go prematurely. Heineman says he talked with state lawmakers and then-Corrections Director Bob Houston on handling a growing prison population.

Heineman says he had no knowledge about the prison sentence miscalculations that freed hundreds of inmates early.

He says his administration worked with the Unicameral to lower the prison population, something that he says is ongoing.

Heineman says the real puzzle is that, overall, crime is down in Nebraska, but the prison population is up.