TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Republican legislators on Wednesday blocked nearly $10 million that Kansas corrections officials argue they need to deal with prison overcrowding and said lawmakers might...

MONTOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers could revisit criminal justice reform as the state grapples with prison overcrowding and a shortage of corrections officers.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Legislature is considering creation of a panel to study and recommend changes to the state's criminal justice system.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska is likely to face a prison overcrowding emergency next year that will force state officials to consider releasing all eligible inmates, a prospect some lawmakers fear would endanger the public.

Nebraska corrections director Scott Frakes acknowledged Friday that his department will probably fail to meet a mandatory deadline to reduce the state's prison population by July 1, 2020, triggering the emergency.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prison and parole officials say they're forging ahead with state-mandated plans to reduce overcrowding in the correctional system, but some lawmakers are worried the agencies will miss a looming deadline, forcing them to take more drastic action.

The Department of Correctional Services and Board of Parole highlighted the steps they've taken in a report this month to the Legislature but offered few specifics on the progress they've made so far.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker spent much of the week before Tuesday's primary election protesting some of his Democratic opponents' hopes to reduce the state's prison population.

The state's truth-in-sentencing law — Walker authored it when he was in the Legislature — prohibits the early release of prisoners, which has contributed to prison overcrowding and spurred some lawmakers to consider building a new prison.

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — As Twin Falls expands as a regional hub, the jail and prosecutor's desk are overflowing with felons and felony cases.

The county prosecuting attorney's office is on track to deal with an estimated 900 felony cases this year, nearly double what the office saw 10 years ago.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — With limited time left in the legislative session, lawmakers hit a roadblock Tuesday in their efforts to address overcrowding and other problems in the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lawmakers are racing against the clock to find a solution for Nebraska's persistent prison overcrowding problem as adjournment nears and a deadline to reduce the inmate population looms.

Debate on a new corrections package is slated to begin this week, and key lawmakers say they're hopeful it will help fix overcrowding problems that have plagued the Department of Correctional Services for years.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic candidates for governor are voicing support for an overhaul of Wisconsin's criminal justice system, saying Gov. Scott Walker has failed to adequately address the root causes of prison overcrowding.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor gathered Wednesday for a forum on the issue at a church across the street from the state Capitol.

Talk the talk, walk the walk.

More than a handful of bills dealing with the Nebraska Department of Corrections, prison overcrowding and inmate opportunities and services have been introduced to lawmakers this year. Let’s hope that we see more action than words.

I like the way Senator Paul Schumacher of Columbus put it in a report in the Lincoln Journal-Star.

While you were busy complaining about the President and Congress and concerning yourself with election results in Alabama and hurricane cleanup in Puerto Rico, here’s what was happening in your backyard.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Legislature's special oversight committee on Nebraska's justice system has recommended that the state begin to plan for a prison overcrowding emergency that could lead to paroling a large number of inmates.

The Nebraska prison population will be considered overcrowded if it exceeds 140 percent of capacity on or after July 1, 2020, though the governor is authorized to declare an overcrowding emergency before that date.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Inmates at a Kansas prison housing some of the state's most dangerous criminals twice took control of the prison yard for hours in recent months, setting a fire, trying to create barricades and breaking into a security office, in mass disturbances not previously disclosed by corrections officials, according to prison guards who spoke to The Associated Press.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Gov. Mary Fallin urged lawmakers to take additional steps to reduce Oklahoma's escalating incarceration costs after she signed one such measure aimed at reducing prison overcrowding.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Two Alabama lawmakers proposed a bill on Wednesday that would serve as an alternative to the governor's construction plan to relieve prison overcrowding.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, a Democrat from Red Bay, and Rep. Allen Farley, a Republican from McCalla, would pay sheriffs to house 1,500 state inmates in county jails instead of building new state prisons as Gov. Robert Bentley has proposed.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president urged the government on Monday to scrap a proposal to pardon thousands of prisoners, a move which has led to major anti-government protests.

President Klaus Iohannis spoke after tens of thousands of people marched through Romania's capital and other cities on Sunday to protest the initiative, which critics say could reverse anti-corruption efforts.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court has revived an Oklahoma prison inmate's lawsuit that alleges overcrowding and understaffing at state prison facilities has created dangerous conditions for inmates and inadequate sanitation, laundry and other services.