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Nebraska State Penitentiary
State prisonMaximumClosed 1982Overcrowded (118%)LowHigh
Verified
Fresh · 2mo ago
Sources last reviewed on
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit Nebraska State Penitentiary
Step-by-step guidance using the United States system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
Photo by Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by United States Department of Agriculture via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by Nebraska State Penitentiary via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by Nebraska State Penitentiary via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by Nebraska State Penitentiary via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Nebraska State Penitentiary is a state prison located in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Rated capacity: 1,139. Reported population: 1,341. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.
Background
The Nebraska State Penitentiary (NSP) is a state correctional facility operated by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Located in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, it is the oldest state correctional facility in Nebraska, having opened in 1869. Until after World War I, it was the only adult correctional institution in the state. The NSP has been accredited by the American Correctional Association since 1985.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
1,139
Current population
1,341
Occupancy
118%
Year opened
1900
Closed 1982
Figures from official sources · verified 2 Jun 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1900
Region
Nebraska
Security level
Maximum
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Notable inmates
.jpg)
Leslie Arnold1942–2010William Leslie Arnold (August 28, 1942 â August 6, 2010), who later lived under the alias John Vincent Damon, was an American murderer and long-term fugitive.
Charles Starkweather1938–1959 · criminalCharles Raymond Starkweather (November 24, 1938 â June 25, 1959) was an American spree killer who murdered eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming between December 1957 and January 1958, when he was nineteen years old.
George Washington Davis? · laborer
Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.
Contact & address
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
5/100
Low concern5/100
- Overcrowding
- 5/30
- Oversight reports
- 0/30
- Structural flags
- 0/15
- Death signals
- 0/15
- Conditions text
- 0/10
What the score is responding to:
- · Operating at 118% of design capacity
This facility scores 5. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 3 points above national average.
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- Woodman State JailGatesvilleMaximumState prison720% occupancy
- Centinela State Prison (Cen)ImperialMaximumState prison150% occupancy
- Kern Valley State Prison (Kvsp)DelanoMaximumState prison152% occupancy
- Diagnostic And Evaluation CenterLincolnMaximumState prison178% occupancy
- High Desert State Prison (Hdsp)SusanvilleMaximumState prison152% occupancy
- Calipatria State Prison (Cal)CalipatriaMaximumState prison161% occupancy
Compared to other facilities in United States
7436 peersOccupancythis: 118% · peers avg: 93% (+27%)
Capacity (beds)this: 1139 · peers avg: 547 (+108%)
Data completeness
74%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries
- HIFLD dataset query
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries — US Department of Homeland Security â HIFLD Open Data
- OpenStreetMap — OpenStreetMap Contributors
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q6984788)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
APA
World Prisons. (2026). Nebraska State Penitentiary. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/nebraska-state-penitentiary
Chicago
"Nebraska State Penitentiary." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/nebraska-state-penitentiary.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-nebraska-state-penitentiary,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {Nebraska State Penitentiary},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/nebraska-state-penitentiary},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}