Legal Question in Criminal Law in Nebraska

Oualifications for house arrest

This is for a friend. She was convicted of willful misrepresentation and a driving offense, both are misdeameanors. She was sentenced to 60 days for one and 90 days for the other, with time running together. She was out on appeal bond and was trying to find out how to be eligible for house arrest or work release. Our county jail does not house women, only men. She was told she could not do house arrest because her crimes were not serious enough, and nobody could answer about work release because they didn't know where she would be sent, it depended on availability at different facilities. She is a single parent of two teenage boys and works 40-plus hours every week. She went to court two days ago and was sent to the womens prison in York Nebraska to serve her time. It is not her fault that this jail does not house women and it isn't fair that only the men in this county have the option of work release. Is there anything that can be done? Is this a matter for a civil rights law suit? Thank you.


Asked on 2/02/02, 9:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
William Jones William P. Jones, Attorney-at-Law

Re: Oualifications for house arrest

I am a bit confused about the status of your friend's case. You say she was out on an appeal bond, and has gone back to court for imposition of sentence. Was her appeal denied, or did she not actually file one? House arrest is also confusing, as usually it is not reserved for more serious offenders, but rather is for less serious ones. It is possible and permissible for county sheriffs to contract with one another for housing prisoners where facilities are not available for a particular type of prisoner or where overcrowding demands that prisoners be held elsewhere. This would include work release type situations if she is working or living in a county different from where she is sentenced. As for the civil rights claim, it does seem that there is unequal treatment of offenders here, but I have not researched the issue directly to see if there is a right to either house arrest or work release that would be necessary to a equal protection claim.

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Answered on 2/04/02, 3:23 pm


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