LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A state official is recommending that lawmakers look into Nebraska's use of solitary confinement on Nikko Jenkins, who was kept in isolation for up to 23 hours a day before his killing spree in Omaha.
Nebraska Ombudsman Marshall Lux told a legislative committee Friday that administrative segregation may have worsened Jenkins' mental health problems. Jenkins was found guilty last month of four Omaha murders, committed shortly after his release from prison in July.
Lux says Jenkins spent the last two years of his prison term in segregation, but the state had nothing in place to help him transition back into the general population before his release.
Lawmakers also plan to trace Jenkins' path through Nebraska's child welfare system, on suspicion that other problems occurred.
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