Nebraska Selects Hausmann Construction for New State Correctional Facility
Rendering of the new Nebraska State Correctional Facility. Hausmann Construction will join DLR Group to build this facility with an expected opening of May 2028. Image Credit: DLR Group
By Kat Balster
LINCOLN, Neb.,—The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) has announced its intent to award the construction contract for the state’s newest correctional facility to Lincoln, Neb.,-based Hausmann Construction. The new facility, designed by DLR Group, will replace the aging Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Three teams submitted bids for the project:
- Hausmann Construction – Base bid: $313,300,000
- Clark Construction/MCL Construction (Joint Venture) – Base bid: $340,987,000
- Sampson Construction/Caddell Construction (Joint Venture) – Base bid: $344,342,000
Hausmann Construction is a first-generation firm founded in 2003. The company brings a strong local workforce to the project.
“Hausmann Construction is a local company who understands our responsibility to fiscal stewardship, completing this project the Nebraska way,” said NDCS Director Rob Jeffreys in a press release on the selection, “Their sub-contractors are high-performing and many are local [in order to keep] business in Nebraska.”
Groundbreaking for the facility took place in late August 2024 in northeast Lincoln. The campus will include a maximum/medium custody compound adjacent to a minimum compound. Programming spaces will be integrated into the housing units, with vocational training areas distributed throughout the campus.
The new facility will offer 1,512 beds and is scheduled for completion in May 2028. The design emphasizes natural light, normative environments and a focus on physical and mental wellbeing to support both staff and incarcerated individuals.
DLR Group’s Nordic Model-inspired facility aligns with NDCS’ mission to create a safer, more effective correctional system. It incorporates a holistic classification approach, mental and behavioral health services, self-determination, and connections to nature, placing equal emphasis on rehabilitation and staff wellbeing.
“With a facility that integrates innovative programming, human-centered design and sustainability, Nebraska is setting a new standard for justice that prioritizes rehabilitation and supports the successful reentry of individuals into their communities,” said Gary Retel, principal and Justice + Civic design leader, DLR Group.
The initiative is part of a broader rehabilitative strategy by NDCS, which joined the national Reentry 2030 initiative in 2024, becoming the fourth state to do so. The program now includes seven states and aims to improve reentry outcomes through support in employment, housing and healthcare.
Reentry 2030 aligns with TRANSFORM Nebraska, NDCS’s strategic framework for rehabilitation, which focuses on areas that improve the outcomes and follow the five keys to well-being development: positive relationships, positive social engagement, meaningful work trajectories, effective coping strategies and healthy thinking patterns.
At the groundbreaking for the facility, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen remarked, “Today is a day where Nebraska will be viewed as a leader across the county in how we help people get back to being productive citizens and make an incredible difference in their families. There is nothing more rewarding and more gratifying than having transformative change. This is an investment for Nebraska, for the people and families of Nebraska.”
Jeffreys echoed that sentiment in his director’s report for Correctional News:
“At NDCS, we focus our work on four key areas: people, programs, policies, and physical plant. This physical plant project will play a pivotal role in supporting each of those areas and set the stage for what the future of rehabilitation looks like in Nebraska — and across the country. This build is an extensive project that will require a tremendous amount of collaboration over the next several years as we work to develop a facility that will bring transformative change. Challenge accepted.”