Click here to view the FY 2011 Annual Report available in the publications section on the KDOC's website.
]]>Training combined cognitive behavioral principles with motivational interviewing strategies and gave participants the knowledge and skills to administer an Employment Retention Inventory to connect offenders to services and programs that support the offenders' long-term attachment to the workforce. The training was created in response to research that suggests that unstable employment histories and low levels of personal, educational, and vocational achievement help predict continued criminal involvement for offenders. Research has shown that the work history for many offenders was fragmented prior to their initial contact with the criminal justice system and any effort to help offenders maintain their connection to the workforce warrants the implementation of innovative approaches to address the behavioral health of offenders classified as being at high risk for job loss.
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Contact Information: Kris Lancaster, (913) 551-7557, lancaster.kris@epa.gov
Environmental News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Kansas City, Kan., January 11, 2012) – The Hutchinson, Kan., Correctional Facility will be honored next week by EPA for reducing its volume of solid waste through innovative and aggressive recycling programs. EPA will present a WasteWise State Government Partner of the Year Award to the correctional facility. This honor is awarded annually to one State WasteWise partner in the country.
WasteWise is a free, voluntary EPA program that helps businesses reduce their environmental impact and find cost savings through innovative waste reduction and recycling activities. The program provides an online reporting system called Re-TRAC which allows members to track waste generation and reduction activities, generate customized reports, and calculate their greenhouse gas emission reductions and environmental impacts.
A tour of the corrections facility, at 1101 East G Avenue, in Hutchinson, Kan., will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 18. A news conference will follow at 2:30 at the same location.
WHAT: Recognition of Hutchinson Correctional Facility as the 2011 WasteWise State Government Partner of the Year
WHEN: 2:30 p.m., January 18, 2012 (Tour of the facility will begin at 2:00 p.m.)
WHERE: 1101 East G Avenue, South Unit, Hutchinson, Kan. 67501
WHO: EPA Region 7 Regional Administrator Karl Brooks, Hutchinson Correctional Facility Warden Sam Cline and Kansas Department of Health and Environment Director of Waste Management Bill Bider
The Hutchinson Correctional facility has made a concerted effort to reduce waste. Since 2010, the facility has diverted more than 1,496,000 pounds of solid waste from local landfills.
The correctional facility is the only mattress recycling center in Kansas. Since 2010, the facility has recycled more than 17,000 mattresses, which consisted of 46,000 pounds of foam, 287,000 pounds of steel, 22,000 pounds of wood and 46,000 pounds of cotton. In addition, the facility is recycling used inmate jeans. Useable remnants of jeans are made into quilts that are donated to charitable organizations. The inmates have made more than 1,085 quilts, which amounts to more than 12,000 pounds of clothing being diverted from a local landfill. Other recycling efforts include the use of recycled ink cartridges, toilet paper and paper towels.
EPA launched the WasteWise program to help businesses and institutions find practical, economical and environmentally friendly methods for reducing municipal solid waste. By joining the WasteWise program the business or institution commits to implementing waste reduction through waste prevention, recycling, and using recycled-content products.
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]]>To participate in an important survey regarding transportation in Kansas, click here. For more information on this study, please visit the Kansas Department of Transportation website.
]]>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2011
Contact:
Jan Lunsford, Public Information Officer
785-291-3052
785-248-1594 (mobile)
Jan.Lunsford@doc.ks.gov
Mentoring4Success Initiative Reaches Milestone
Governor Sam Brownback, Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts and representatives from the Mentoring4Success Initiative will conduct a joint news conference tomorrow to announce that a major goal has been reached in the effort to provide the life-skills needed by ex-offenders to make positive changes in their lives. The news conference will be held at the office of the Wichita Urban League, 2418 E. 9th Street N., starting at 3 p.m., Tuesday.
Mentoring4Success features 12 “lead” organizations throughout Kansas which are experienced service groups that take the lead in recruiting, screening, training, matching and supervising mentors. Guided by the KDOC, these organizations prepare mentors to work safely and effectively with offenders six to 12 months prior to release to reduce their risk of re-offending or returning to prison.
While this should be considered a substantial accomplishment, the search for additional mentors continues because an estimated 4,700 people release from prison each year and at least half need help with housing, employment, family and other issues. Anyone interested in becoming a mentor should contact Gloria Geither, Mentoring Director for the KDOC, at 785-296-0450, or by e-mail at GloriaG@doc.ks.gov.
Matching offenders with mentors was a stated goal included in Governor Brownback’s “Roadmap For Kansas” during his gubernatorial campaign.
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]]>November 17, 2011
Contact:
Brett Peterson, Public Information Coordinator, Lansing Correctional Facility
(913) 727-3235
Investigations staff at Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF) received information late Wednesday evening explaining that LCF escapees Matthew Glen Allender and Chad Duane Amack were living on the street in a location in Kansas City, Kansas. The Kansas City Kansas Police Department was contacted along with Special Agents of the Kansas Department of Corrections. Allender and Amack were apprehended without incident at approximately 10:30 p.m. and have been returned to the Lansing Correctional Facility.
Inmate Amack is serving a 23-month sentence based on a Shawnee County, Kansas, conviction for theft and aggravated burglary. Inmate Allender is also serving a 23-month sentence from Shawnee County, Kansas, based on two convictions for theft. Both Amack and Allender were scheduled for release from the prison portion of their sentence in mid-2012.
Amack and Allender will be facing charges in Leavenworth District Court for aggravated escape from custody.
Amack and Allender escaped from LCF's minimum-custody East Unit, Tuesday, November 15, at approximately 6 p.m. Their escape from custody remains under investigation and additional details regarding this will not be released as this information could be detrimental to facility security.
Additionally, there are no similarities between the Amack and Allender escape and the September 14, 2011 escape of Ronny Dale Peters. The standard procedure of the Kansas Department of Corrections is to review and critique every serious incident and take appropriate actions.
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