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| Kansas House rejects prison inmate policy change |
| By .necn.com |
| Published: 05/09/2012 |
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — House members rejected an amendment Tuesday that would have restricted the types of inmates the Kansas Department of Corrections could house in county jails. The proposal was in response to the escape in April of four state prison inmates who were being held in the Ottawa County jail. The men were in the county jail as part of a contract to alleviate state prison overcrowding. The House rejected the amendment on a 79-41 vote. Rep. Sean Gatewood offered the amendment, saying legislators needed to have the debate over public safety. He said the escaped inmates had violent criminal histories and immediately carjacked a vehicle when they fled from the north-central Kansas jail. "How is that safe? I think the citizens of Kansas deserve better," said Gatewood, a Topeka Democrat. House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee Chairwoman Pat Colloton said the amendment restricts the ability to manage the prison population. For example, she said, it would prevent the corrections department from transferring inmates who completed their sentences to county jails for work-release programs as part of their transition back to society. Such transfers can alleviate prison crowding and are viewed as lower risk. The amendment was offered to a bill that would allow for the sale of Department of Corrections property in Reno County for construction of a new county jail. Rep. Doug Gatewood, a Columbus Democrat, said legislators were told during a hearing on the bill that the county intended to house state inmates in the new jail and that it would be built to a higher security standard. "I think this is a debate that we need to have," he said. "That policy needs to be looked at very, very carefully given the recent jailbreaks that we have had." Read More. |
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