Over the past few decades, the United States has witnessed a significant increase in the prison population on both the federal and state level. The State of Kansas is no exception. Since 1995, the average daily population in our prisons has increased by roughly 2,000 inmates. The vast majority of these inmates will be released from prison at some point and without adequate services to assist in successfully reintegrating into society many offenders are likely to re-offend. The Kansas Department of Corrections takes a proactive approach to preparing offenders for release into the community in order to increase their chances of living the remainder of their lives crime-free. Beginning in our correctional facilities, we thoroughly assess each inmate's needs in terms of treatment, education and vocational training, and develop case plans to ensure that inmates receive the programming they need while incarcerated. We begin preparing inmates for release more than a year in advance by working with facility case managers, parole officers and offenders' families. Additionally, the Department has implemented comprehensive community programs to provide high-risk offenders with the treatment, housing, employment and supervision they need to maintain a crime-free lifestyle.

In collaboration with other state agencies and community groups, the Kansas Department of Corrections has made tremendous gains in creating a state-wide framework for successful community reintegration for offenders. Looking to the future, the Department has established seven major goals to build upon our accomplishments. They are:

1. Increase offenders’ abilities and motivations to practice responsible crime-free behaviors through correctional management consistent with the research driven principles of effective intervention.
2. Improve the safety and security of correctional facilities by incorporating the principles of effective risk management.
3. Manage offenders in the community using risk reduction strategies that assist them in acquiring pro-social behaviors and ultimately achieve successful reintegration.
4. Recruit and retain the quality workforce needed to provide effective services.
5. Become a Department in which we all function as a single team.
6. Manage accurate, timely and complete information.
7. Serve as a liaison and service provider for crime victims.

The Department's Fiscal Year 2009 Strategic Action Plan includes goals, objectives and strategies designed to improve our ability to manage offenders safely and effectively. This includes increasing programming capacity, improving the speed and accuracy of information-sharing, expanding services for victims and families, and building community partnerships. Our Strategic Action Plan serves to further our vision of "A Safer Kansas Through Effective Correctional Services".

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                      

December 10, 2015

State Releases Plans to Improve Juvenile Justice System, Promote Public Safety, and Reduce Costs

Topeka, KS –– The Kansas Juvenile Justice Workgroup today submitted to state leaders a comprehensive set of data-driven policy recommendations designed to increase public safety, effectively hold juvenile offenders accountable and reduce juvenile justice costs. The Workgroup’s recommendations will be used as the foundation for statutory, budgetary, and administrative changes during the 2016 session of the legislature.

In keeping with its charge from state leaders, the Workgroup issued 40 consensus-based recommendations that if fully implemented are projected to reduce the average daily out-of-home population by at least 62 percent from projected levels in 2021, leaving millions available for reinvestment. Other highlights of the policy recommendations include:

• Preventing deeper juvenile justice system involvement of lower-level offenders through early response with targeted services and swift and appropriate sanctions;

• Protecting public safety and containing costs by focusing system resources on higher level youth; and
• Sustaining effective practices through continued oversight and reinvestment in a stronger continuum of evidence-based services.

The report is available at: www.doc.ks.gov/juvenile-services/committee/Workgroup/report/Final. 

While the juvenile arrest rate in Kansas dropped more than 50 percent from 2004 to 2013, the state’s community supervision and residential commitment populations have not fallen at the same rate. In particular, the out-of-home placement population did not mirror the drop in the juvenile arrest rate, declining by roughly half as much (24 percent). Kansas is currently ranked 9th highest nationally in out of home placements for juvenile justice involved youth.

Beginning in June 2015, the Workgroup conducted a comprehensive analysis of the juvenile justice system, reviewing key data from the Office of Judicial Administration (OJA), the Department of Children and Families (DCF), and KDOC, and gathering input from those who work on the front lines through more than two dozen roundtable discussions with stakeholders, including law enforcement, crime victims, judges, county and district attorneys, and service providers. The Workgroup also reviewed current research on reducing recidivism as well as effective policies and practices from states across the country.

"These recommendations are an important step forward for juvenile justice in Kansas," said Governor Brownback. "Our priority is helping Kansas youth and their families. These steps mean less crime, lower costs for taxpayers and better outcomes for everyone involved."   

Key findings of the Workgroup include:

• As crime falls, Kansas’s juvenile justice system does not keep pace. Instead of mirroring the reduction in crime, Kansas’s juvenile justice system is cycling youth through more out-of-home placements and holding them away from home longer than it did a decade ago.
• The vast majority of youth placed in state-funded residential facilities are lower-level offenders and have limited criminal histories.
• Bed costs are high. More than two-thirds (over $53 million) of KDOC’s juvenile services budget is spent on out-of-home placements at a cost of as much as $89,000 per year per youth.  That is more than 10 times the cost of probation.
• Evidence-based interventions for juvenile offenders are scarce in communities.

“We charged the work group with studying the juvenile justice system to see if there were opportunities for better outcomes for our youth and our communities,” said Chief Justice Nuss. “I am encouraged by their recommendations and believe they should help us create a more efficient and effective juvenile justice system.”

“The recommendations in this report help provide the Legislature with a framework for achieving a brighter future for our state’s youth,” said Speaker Merrick. “With these recommendations we are better positioned to assist troubled juveniles to avoid a future of incarceration and instead become productive members of society.”

“The policies put forth by the Workgroup will help improve the juvenile justice system in Kansas,” said Senate President Susan Wagle. “Together we can create better policy that will result in having fewer youth in our juvenile system, and fewer coming into our adult corrections system as well.”

“I am encouraged that Kansas is focusing on its juvenile justice system,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley. “The Legislature now has an opportunity to work together to improve the lives of our youth, families, and communities.”

“Kansas needs a juvenile system that focuses on public safety and improving the outcomes of youth, said House Minority Leader Burroughs. “I look forward to working on them during the next legislative session.”

The Workgroup is co-chaired by Representative John Rubin and Senator Greg Smith, chairs of the House and Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committees. It also includes 15 additional members:

• Representative Gail Finney, District 84
• Senator Pat Pettey, District 6
• Judge Thomas Foster, 10^th Judicial District
• Judge Mary Thrower, 28^th Judicial District
• Judge Delia M. York, 29^th Judicial District
• Mark Gleeson, Office of Judicial Administration
• Stephanie Springer, 27^th Judicial District Chief Court Services Officer
• Ray Roberts, Secretary, Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC)
• Terri Williams, Deputy Secretary of Juvenile Services, KDOC
• Randy Bowman, Director of Community Based Services, KDOC
• Melody Pappan, Cowley County Youth Services Administrator
• Jaime Rogers, Deputy Secretary, Kansas Department for Children and Families
• Trent Wetta, Kansas Legal Services
• Karen Griffiths, Assistant County Attorney, Norton County
• Ed Klumpp, Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police

The state received technical assistance from The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project throughout the Workgroup process.

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The goals of this effort are broad based and important. We need to reach out at all levels of our communities and educational institutions to educate and to recruit. Our efforts should help more taxpayers better understand what we do and why we do it, as well as how our efforts on their behalf impact them every day, every hour. The plan is to provide a list of speakers, skilled in their work and selected by their leaders and peers, to educational institutions from high schools to colleges and universities. At some point, we may also provide such contact information to community organizations, though many of you and your leaders already are a part of or have spoken to community organizations. Thank you if you are one of those persons who has already done so!

This is an important task: If you feel you are uncomfortable or unable to speak to a group contacting you, please ask your supervisor to get someone else equally skilled and willing to share similar information regarding what was originally requested. Our hope is that we are open to questions and seeking answers from the appropriate source (check with the Central Office Communications Office if you are unsure). The Department of Corrections publishes an annual report, and we do reports on population daily that are available to you as well.

The key to this task is your rapport with the group you speak to about why and how you and your peers work hard to reduce risk to Kansans in many ways, all designed using evidence-based research and clearly targeting the offender based on their assessed risks and needs to provide the correct dosage and response. When we get a broad array of speakers and subjects needing to be covered, we will share the information with you and with the educational institutions. If you feel other agencies or organizations need to be included, or additional subjects need to be added, please let the Central Office Communications Office know. Our hope is this may educate and entice more persons to working or volunteering to join us in the good work being done. Thanks so much for being willing to provide time and effort to carry on the mission of the Kansas Department of Corrections.

For more information, please call Hope.Burns@ks.gov or (785) 296-3310

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