Pubdate: Wed, 18 Dec 2002
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2002 The Kansas City Star
Contact:  http://www.kcstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/221
Author: John L. Petterson

KANSAS CONSIDERS PRISON EXPANSION

TOPEKA - With the state's prison population threatening to overflow 
facilities, a proposal surfaced Tuesday that calls for construction of new 
cell houses at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.

Roger Werholtz, who runs the state Department of Corrections, said he was 
not ready to make specific recommendations for dealing with the exploding 
population, but expansion of the maximum-security prison "will be part of 
any discussion involving further capacity requirements."

Preliminary plans calls for one or two new cell houses, each capable of 
housing 128 maximum-security inmates or 256 medium-security inmates. Two 
medium-security inmates can be housed in a single cell, but only one 
maximum-security prisoner.

Estimates are that one cell house could be built for $7.1 million. If two 
were built, the cost would be slightly more than double because of the 
expanded infrastructure that would be required.

"We anticipate that a policy decision will need to be made during the 2003 
legislative session as to whether to increase capacity or to take action to 
reduce the size of future inmate populations," Werholtz said in documents 
prepared for the Joint Legislative Committee on State Building Construction.

He said the inmate population is expected to exceed 9,000 by the end of the 
week. That would put state prisons almost at capacity.

The prospect of spending more than $14 million on prisons at a time when 
the state is scrambling just to reach a zero treasury balance this year is 
not attractive to building construction committee members.

"I certainly don't want to do that if we don't have to," said Sen. Steve 
Morris, a Hugoton Republican and the committee chairman. "We also don't 
want to get into a court-order situation where we have to do something 
drastic."

The Kansas Sentencing Commission already has come up with a much less 
expensive alternative. It calls for putting nonviolent drug users in 
treatment programs, some of which cost only $1,500, rather than in prison 
cells, where the tab runs about $20,000 annually.

In the 2001 budget year, according to the Sentencing Commission, 1,257 
people were sentenced to Kansas prisons for drug possession. They had no 
history of crimes against people.

The commission estimated that placing drug users in treatment programs 
instead of prisons would free 400 to 800 prison beds for dangerous criminals.

"As fast as the population is growing, that might not be enough," said 
Morris, who also is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
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MAP posted-by: Beth