Nebraska’s Legislature and executive branches stake competing claims on state agency oversight

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Barely six months into his term as Nebraska’s attorney general last year, Mike Hilgers released an opinion questioning the legality of offices of inspector general overseeing the state’s prison system and the child services division of the Department of Health and Human Service — two of the state’s largest and most troubled agencies.

“That same day, those agencies blocked our access to their online case files,” said Julie Rogers, who heads the state ombudsman’s office.

Not only did the agencies block the inspectors general, they blocked her office, even though the ombudsman’s office has a more than 50-year history of oversight of state agencies. And the attorney general’s opinion makes no mention of the office.

Since then, Rogers said, neither she nor the inspectors general have been able access reports, case files or complaints or been allowed to inspect the state’s prisons.

“Their legal counsels also pretty quickly sent out memos agency-wide to say that employees were not to talk to us.” she said.

That means for the past six months, she and the inspectors general — who report their findings to the Legislature — have been kept in the dark about any complaints on the treatment of prisoners and children under state care, such as juvenile offenders and those in the foster care system.

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