To begin using this service, please sign up at https://visit.telmate.com/user/messages.
For more information, please see https://www.doc.ks.gov/facilities/inmate-communications/electronic-messaging.
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KDOC Strategic Plan |
December 2021 Update |
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Our MissionPartnering to Promote Safety and Responsibility through Best PracticesOur VisionTransforming Lives for the Safety of AllKDOC Guiding Framework (pdf)Strategic Plan Implementation (pdf)We will turn this Vision into reality by:
Our Beliefs
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Under our strategic plan, Pathway for Success, KDOC hasfive Strategic Implementation Teams (SITs) hard at work. The Employee Environment SIT has three sub-teams focusing on various issues, including staff retention and recruitment, staff development and wellness. The Communications SIT has completed a survey and developed a report primarily focusing on staff communication as an initial project. The Population Environment SIT has three sub-teams centered on issues relating to residents within our facilities:
The Resource Deployment SIT has developed and tested a tool at El Dorado for staff to report the condition of computers and chairs and is now working on a plan to launch the tool at all sites. The team also completed a staff survey of the use of CBI (Cognitive Behavior Intervention) techniques, including staff training and effectiveness. This study will help support changes and improvements that will be recommended in the coming year. The final strategic implementation team – Grants and Resource Attainment Literacy SIT – completed a survey of staff and volunteers about how receptive they were to certain tasks being performed by volunteers, residents, parolees or probationers. Based on survey results, the team will develop recommendations on ways to increase efficiency and provide meaningful opportunities for others to become involved in our vision of Transforming Lives for the Safety of All. This is not an all-inclusive list of progress to date! Every team is hard at work gathering data, researching best practices, and more importantly, talking with other staff members on ways we can improve. |
Yet access to a good job and a livable wage, one of the cornerstones of successful reentry, is beyond the reach of many who have paid their debt to society and are ready to rebuild their lives.
Jobs — good jobs with benefits — often require training or certification, or in many cases an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
Thanks to the ongoing leadership of Gov. Laura Kelly and the support of policy makers and other advocates, one of the biggest barriers to success after release from prison continues to crumble.
In 2020, KDOC partnered with Kansas colleges and the Kansas Board of Regents to form the Kansas Consortium on Correctional Higher Education. The partnership coordinates and guides higher education programs in all Kansas correctional facilities. It is through this partnership that seven Kansas Colleges were named Second Chance Pell Grant sites last spring.
These grants were deemed “experimental” and support beginning programs across the U.S. In Kansas, the $2.2 million grant means access to technical education, associate and four-year degree opportunities for 700 KDOC residents. A great start, though this transformative opportunity benefits less than 10% of the Kansas total prison population today.
This is all about to change. Full access to federally funded Pell Grants has been restored for incarcerated individuals. These same individuals have been denied access to life-changing Pell grants through a 1994 federal crime. Funding to reinstate the program was included in the stimulus bill signed into law just before Christmas.
That means incarcerated Kansans can once again apply for federal Pell Grants to pay for college courses and career technical education programs.
There will be those who object to the use of public funds in this way. But the connection to education attainment and reduced recidivism is well-documented. And the truth is a small fraction of all new Pell Grant funds will support prison programs.
It’s a wise investment for our society and state. A recent study by the Rand Corporation indicates for every $1 invested in higher education for incarcerated students, taxpayers save — on average — between $4 and $5 in three-year reincarceration costs.
Many individuals in our prisons have become disenfranchised through the criminal justice system and the educational system. Pell grants alone aren’t the answer, but with wider access and availability to training and education, hundreds of individuals who will one day return to Kansas communities will no longer lack the training to fill good jobs that provide a livable wage.
In turn this directly benefits local and state economies and improves the quality of life for all involved.
The decision to pursue higher education is a defining moment for anyone. For incarcerated individuals, the positive impact of successfully completing a certification or attaining a degree are immense.
The end results of removing this one barrier to successful reentry will ripple through their lives, the lives of their families and ultimately benefit all Kansans.
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