Douglas County corrections director reports modern-era low jail population, highlights staffing gains and opioid treatment challenges

Director Mike Myers, Douglas County director of corrections, told county commissioners at their Jan. 14 meeting that the county jail reached a modern-era low in population while staffing and rehabilitation programs showed gains.

Myers said the jail’s average daily population for December was 944, a record low for a second consecutive month, with a high count of 978 and a low of 914. He reported 1,272 admissions and 1,250 releases for the month and said the average length of stay for those released was 20 days; the overall average length of stay was 25 days. "I’m gonna venture a guess that that is the lowest number since the jail was expanded in 2005," Myers said.

The nut graf: The numbers reflect a combination of programmatic changes, reentry efforts and community partnerships, Myers said, but the department identified remaining needs: mental-health resources, GED access, and operational challenges tied to new federal requirements for medications for opioid-use disorder (MOUD).

Myers gave detailed operating and program statistics. He said overtime spending after six months of the fiscal year totaled $1,183,530, down by about $84,000 from the previous month and nearly $180,000 over two months. Corrections logged 3,646 overtime hours in December. The records division processed about $900,000 in bond payments. Staffing at correctional-officer ranks was 101% of authorized levels, with 359 officers on hand against an authorized 355, Myers said. He congratulated Frank Fellner on promotion to sergeant and Jesse Torres on promotion to lieutenant.

On programs and reentry, Myers said community corrections placed 11 people in programs that saved 38 jail bed days, work release admitted 15 individuals and house arrest admitted 32. The RAP program admitted 14 individuals, three of whom earned GEDs. Inside the jail, 62 people were in therapeutic community housing units. Myers said the GED wait list numbered 114 with 50 active students and two inmates achieved GEDs in December. He also said 24 people were referred to an intensive outpatient treatment program and a women’s IOP began in December with eight participants.

Pretrial supervision numbers in his report included 238 placements on pretrial release during the month and 1,377 individuals supervised on pretrial release. Myers said 537 people participated in the 24/7 sobriety condition and that 156 placements potentially saved Douglas County an estimated $613,700 in detention costs.

On medical and behavioral health services, Myers said intake screenings numbered 747 and there were 376 health and physical assessments. The jail had 13 emergency medical transports (two by 911), four hospital admissions totaling 17 hospital days, and 16 off-site specialty appointments. He reported 122 initial psychiatric assessments, about 268 initial mental-health assessments, 87 individuals placed on suicide precautions and 193 placed on drug- and alcohol-detox protocols. The jail had 14 people on the wait list for the Lincoln Regional Center and 14 people currently at that facility.

Myers described substance-use treatment developments and regulatory hurdles. He said federal guidance now requires continuation of MOUD for people who enter custody on those medications; that change expanded the jail’s caseload from the historic one to two people per year to about 15–16 people last week. "We have to continue everybody who’s on this type of therapy," Myers said, adding that storage and daily-dosing regulations complicate offering those medications in community corrections where clinics are not open seven days a week.

Security and operations highlights included 18 deployments of the crisis negotiation team and 10 deployments of the Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) in December (one CERT deployment was a cell extraction). Myers said staff recovered minor contraband and suspected homemade alcohol; a search produced notes referring to an alleged phone but no phone was found.

On training and retention, Myers said the jail started a 20-officer academy class in January, had 31 interviews and received 101 applications for correctional-officer positions. He reported 406 staff completed 24 hours in the Strategic Inmate Management (SIM) curriculum, 257 staff received verbal judo de-escalation training and about 157 staff received mental-health first-aid training. The National Institute of Corrections and the Bureau of Justice Assistance will provide ongoing technical assistance as the jail implements the SIM philosophy, Myers said.

Commissioners asked follow-up questions. Commissioner Morgan called the report “very positive” and asked whether ICE negotiations were ongoing; Myers said staff would present any ICE proposal to the board. Commissioner Kavanaugh pressed for a future breakdown of lengths of stay and distinctions between district and county-court populations; Myers provided the month’s counts for felony (district court) pretrial population at 665 and an average daily misdemeanor (county court) pretrial population of 118. Commissioner Borgeson asked whether recidivism reporting would be restored; Myers said the county is replacing an earlier data product and expects migration of historical data so the board can run longer-term outcome reports.

Myers also highlighted a wellness and retention effort he said saved the county more than $1 million in operational costs in 2024 by reducing academy frequency and overtime through improved retention. He recognized Deputy Director Amber Redmond for an appointment to the American Jail Association’s national board.

Ending: The board thanked Myers and asked for follow-up data (recidivism measures, facility construction update). No formal policy changes were adopted; the board accepted the report and later voted to adjourn the Board of Corrections session.