Director Frakes Talks Corrections in North Omaha
On January 31, 2020, The Dining Room at Highlander was filled with people from across the Omaha community to hear Scott Frakes speak. It is a big deal when the director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services comes to North Omaha. The meeting was hosted by Black Men United.
Event organizer Willie Hamilton, welcomed the audience to the first Hungry Club meeting of 2020 and introduced Preston Love Jr, executive director of Black Votes Matter Institute of Community Engagement.
January 7, Love along with Jasmine Harris, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at RISE, and Jessa Royer, Recent UNO Graduate met with Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and his chief of staff, along with Frakes.
As a result of that meeting the Director agreed to speak at Big Mama’s and additionally, both he and Rosalyn Cotton, Chair of the Parole Board, will be guests at the monthly community meeting hosted by the Empowerment Network, on Saturday, March 14, 2020 at North High School.
Attendees were invited to write questions on cards to be answered by Frakes such as “How do you try to maximize the unproductive time all the inmates have and is there something more we can do?” “There is always something more we can do,” said the Director, “it always balanced against ‘what are our resources?’”.
Frakes discussed key issues like mental health services and increase in service providers within the Nebraska corrections system. He emphasized the need for more funding and support in mental health care across the board and ensuring their is effective aftercare once people are discharged.
After the talk, Frakes answered a few questions for us. We first asked him about the high number of Black and Brown people incarcerated in his prisons and how Correctional Services is working to improve their relationship with the community and the people in their custody. “The best thing I can do, this is what I believe, is ensure I am meeting the needs of my population every way that I can and one of those is to have a diverse staff. We have a diverse population that lives with us, probably more diverse than many parts of Nebraska, and if everybody that is working in our system looks like me, it’s not going to work. I know that,” said Frakes.
When asked what is something community members can do to improve conditions within and outside of the system, Director Frakes responded, “We need jobs, we need housing, we need those kinds of opportunities, we need acceptance but most importantly, the best place we can put our time energy and resources is in our kids and figuring out how to provide as many resources for education and aftercare and community mental health. Everything that we can do to keep people from ending up down that pathway. Once you’re in the criminal justice system it is hard to get out.”