Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $150,000)
The Planning Correctional Facilities on Tribal Lands Competitive Grant Program assists tribes in developing strategies to cost effectively plan facilities associated with the incarceration and rehabilitation of juvenile and adult offenders subject to tribal jurisdiction. Careful planning is critical to ensure that correctional facilities, when completed, are appropriately designed for the intended population, supportive of cultural and traditional values, safe and secure when completed, and in compliance with Bureau of Indian Affairs' standards regarding correction operations, programs, and design.
The Omaha Nation Community Response Team (ONCRT) will use the FY 2009 Correctional Facilities on Tribal Lands Planning grant to support the next phase of planning for the development of a new multi-purpose juvenile justice center.
ONCRT used the initial planning award to conduct a community assessment and develop a master plan for juvenile services for the four federally recognized Nebraska Indian Tribes, which include Omaha, Winnebago, Santee Sioux, and Ponca Tribes. This assessment identified a number of corrections issues among the partner tribes, including an urgent need for a modern and treatment/rehabilitation-oriented regional correctional facility for juvenile detainees and offenders. The only existing detention facility on any of the three reservations is designed and operated as an adult jail and is not approved or suitable to house juveniles.
The need for a regional treatment/rehabilitation oriented facility is further supported by factors, such as extreme poverty of the residents of the four tribes, the high level of alcohol related arrests, collected youth violence data, identified risk and school factors affecting youth, and the lack of options for dealing with unlawful youth behavior. Grant funds will be used to support the development of a pre-architectural program and initial concept design, an in-depth site study to determine the infrastructure needs, and the feasibility of potential re-use of an existing structure.
CA/NCF