He strangled an ex-girlfriend. The judge who sentenced him wanted him to get clinical treatment in prison, and court-ordered him to such a program outside prison walls. The prison experts who evaluated him ID’ed him as high risk for domestic violence — a person who, by Nebraska corrections’ own definition, was more likely to use lethal force on a partner.
Why? Well, in part, it’s because Nebraska prisons haven’t offered a domestic violence program inside prison walls since 2015.
Gleaton got out and started dating Hailey Christiansen.
FFP reporter Natalia Alamdari talked to prison leaders, including corrections director Scott Frakes. She talked to the prison inspector general who has been warning about long waits for prison programming and the lack of a domestic violence program for years. She talked to experts both inside and outside Nebraska. She got into the wider issues, including how hard it is to stop abusers from abusing again. She viewed years of corrections programming data. And she even spoke briefly with DeShawn Gleaton Jr. via phone from jail.
Most importantly, she spent time with Hailey’s family, whose house is now adorned with photos and mementos of elephants, her favorite animal.
The family now wonders if the state of Nebraska — its courts and its prison system — could have done something more to save Hailey. And as the story notes: They are trying to make sure that Nebraska can do something more to save the next Hailey.
It’s a searing story. It’s an important one. It’s exactly why Flatwater Free Press is here.
You’ll see the story in the Omaha World-Herald this weekend, too. It’s part of FFP’s partnership with the OWH focused on Nebraska’s chronically overcrowded prison system.
Opening our house: We opened our office last weekend, as part of the first annual Open Omaha, and it was simply great. Dozens of people stopped by — we honestly lost count when it got busy Saturday afternoon. And open housers came from as far away as McCook! (Okay, they were driving through after a family reunion in Iowa, but still.)
We got good story ideas. We participated in fascinating conversations about journalism and education and the history of the Mastercraft building. (We may or may not have made some of this history up.) And we were reminded, as we are so often, that being open with you, our readers and subscribers, is infinitely valuable to us as a journalism organization. We hope it’s valuable to you, too.
More listening sessions are being planned around the state, including potentially in the metro areas. More to come soon.
We’re on Insta!: Intern extraordinaire Emma Schartz kindly agreed to get us on Instagram this summer. She’s over there posting our latest stories, as well as older ones you may have missed.
You love Instagram? You love FFP? Give us a follow.
If I can ever ween myself off of Twitter, I’ll see you over there.
See you here next week,
—Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Every week we like to share great Nebraska journalism, no matter who made it. Here’s what caught our eye this week:
- A Norfolk mother and daughter exchanged Facebook messages as they allegedly planned the daughter’s abortion that reportedly came after Nebraska’s 20-week-limit on legal abortion. (Important to note: Abortion remains legal in Nebraska until the 20-week mark.)
Facebook gave those messages to Nebraska authorities. It’s raising questions about privacy and abortion in the same summer that the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.
Plenty of good coverage on this, from the Nebraska Examiner’s inexhaustible Aaron Sanderford, from the Lincoln Journal Star’s unstoppable Peter Salter and more. It also attracted national attention: Here’s Vice’s in-depth story, which includes many of the Facebook messages.
Oh, and for what it’s worth: Facebook’s corporate response here. - The Omaha Public Power District planned to stop burning coal in North Omaha in 2023. Now it’s saying that coal-burning plant, which operates in a historically and predominantly Black neighborhood, will keep operating for far longer. The reasons why — and the fallout — from NPR Midwest Newsroom Investigative Reporter Kavahn Mansouri.
- FFP recently had a story on how it’s getting harder — and also more dangerous — to deliver a baby in many parts of rural Nebraska.
Now the University of Nebraska Medical Center is trying to address massive rural health care shortages, including with OBGYNs, with a new plan. The World-Herald with that story, written by the Journal Star’s Chris Dunker .
