Capital Punishment
The State of Kansas has not conducted an execution since 1965.
- The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty laws in 40 states, including Kansas, in 1972. After several previous attempts, the 1994 Legislature enacted a death penalty law, which Governor Joan Finney allowed to become law without her signature. The statute took effect on July 1, 1994.
- Kansas statute established the death penalty by lethal injection as a sentencing option for offenders 18 years of age and older who are convicted of capital murder (K.S.A. 21-3439).
- A number of inmates have been convicted of capital murder but sentenced to life in prison (with a minimum term of 25 years to parole eligibility) instead of death.
- Kansas does not have a separate “death row.” Inmates sentenced to death are typically housed in El Dorado Correctional Facility (EDCF), along with other inmates who are in administrative segregation.
- In the event that a female inmate is sentenced to death, she will be held at the Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF), the only facility for female inmates in Kansas.
- Inmates managed at EDCF or TCF will be transferred to the Lansing Correctional Facility within a week of the scheduled date of the execution.
- The average annual cost of incarceration at the El Dorado Correctional Facility for Fiscal Year 2011 is estimated to be $25,420.
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KANSAS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT INMATES (as of Aug. 2012) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | KDOC# | Race | Date of Birth | Date Capital Sentence Imposed | County of Conviction |
| James Kraig Kahler | 101355 | White | Jan. 15, 1963 | Oct. 11, 2011 | Osage |
| Justin Eugene Thurber | 93868 | White | March 14, 1983 | March 20, 2009 | Cowley |
| Gary Wayne Kleypas | 66129 | White | Oct. 8, 1955 | Dec. 3, 2008 | Crawford |
| Scott Dever Cheever | 72423 | White | August 19, 1981 | January 23, 2008 | Greenwood |
| Sidney John Gleason | 64187 | Black | April 22, 1979 | Aug. 28, 2006 | Barton |
| Douglas Stephen Belt | 64558 | White | Nov. 19, 1961 | Nov. 17, 2004 | Sedgwick |
| John Edward Robinson, Sr. | 45690 | White | Dec. 27, 1943 | Jan. 21, 2003 | Johnson |
| Johnathan Daniel Carr | 76065 | Black | March 30, 1980 | Nov. 15, 2002 | Sedgwick |
| Reginald Dexter Carr, Jr. | 63942 | Black | Nov. 14, 1977 | Nov. 15, 2002 | Sedgwick |
