All residents may send and receive mail. Residents may receive letters, post cards, photographs and non-musical greeting cards. Please note that all letters are subject to being read and to inspection for illegal or unauthorized items.
How do I know where to address a letter?
A resident’s location can be found through the Kansas Adult Supervised Population Electronic Repository (KASPER) through the KDOC’s website at www.doc.ks.gov/kasper. Once you have identified the facility where the resident is housed, look up the correctional facility mailing addresse here.
How do I address a letter?
Click here to see an example of how to address a letter.
Can I send stamps to a resident?
No. Residents may not receive stamps through the mail. Stamps, envelopes and paper can be purchased through the facility’s canteen, a store through which residents are provided an opportunity to purchase allowable items.
Can I send a magazine or book?
Yes, but the items must be mailed directly from the publisher or vendor. Once the item leaves the store, you will not be able to mail it to the correctional facility. Many people find that websites, like Amazon.com, are a good way to purchase the books and have them mailed directly to the resident. If you purchase a book at a bookstore, ask the bookstore to mail it to the resident. Books may be either paperback or hard cover. Magazines and newspaper subscriptions are also an option.
However, a resident may receive printed material, including newspaper and magazine clippings, if the material is included as part of a first-class letter that does not exceed one ounce in total weight.
Each resident is allowed to have 12 books and 10 magazines in their cell. When a resident reaches the limit, the resident must remove items to allow more to be sent in. A resident can mail them home, donate the materials to charity or throw them away.
The correctional facility will review the reading materials and will censor materials that are determined to be a security threat, are of a sexually explicit nature or contain nudity. The facility will not allow role playing games or books related to those games.
The decision made by the staff of the designated facility may be appealed by a resident to the Secretary of Corrections or, at the direction of the Secretary, to the Secretary’s designee.
Can I send photographs?
Yes. Residents are allowed to keep up to 10 personal letters and 50 photographs (8X10 or smaller). Polaroid photographs are not allowed.
Why was my letter returned as containing sexually explicit content?
No resident may possess any sexually explicit materials, including drawings, paintings, writing, pictures, items and devices. The material is considered sexually explicit if the purpose of the material is sexual arousal or gratification and the material meets either of the following conditions:
Why was my mail returned to me as censored?
When mail is censored or rejected, the sender, if known, is notified of the reason for the action and provided with an opportunity to appeal the decision.
Some common reasons why mail is withheld are:
What if I don't want to have contact with an inmate?
If a resident contacts you and you do not want contact with him/her, the facility can issue an “Order to Cease Correspondence” to the resident. If you have safety concerns or are a victim of the resident, please contact the Office of Victim Services at 1-866-404-6732.
For more information about resident mail, please review Kansas Administrative Regulation (K.A.R.) 44-12-601, Inmate Writing and Other Inmate Communications or Publications. Also, Internal Management Policy and Procedure (IMPP) 12-120 Secuirty and Control: Control of Inmate Personal Property provides additional information.
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]]>You may check a resident’s location and status on the Kansas Adult Supervised Population Electronic Repository (KASPER) located on the KDOC’s website. Information is updated daily, excluding weekends.
KASPER is a database which contains information about offenders sentenced to the custody of the Secretary of Corrections since 1980. KASPER contains information regarding those who are: currently incarcerated; under post-incarceration supervision; and, who have been discharged from a sentence. KASPER does not have information available about inmates sent to Kansas under the provisions of the interstate compact agreement.
The information contained in KASPER is public information under provisions of Kansas statute and is made available to the public and law enforcement in the interest of public safety. No names are removed from the database unless a conviction is removed from the public record by one of three ways: one, if the conviction is overturned by means of an appeal; two, if the conviction is expunged; or three, if an offender is granted executive clemency.
Through KASPER you can find:
Please note that release dates may change and are contingent upon good time and program credit earnings and forfeitures.
Specific questions regarding an inmate’s release date should be directed to the KDOC’s sentence computation unit at (785) 296-3317 or by e-mail.
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Community & Field Services Publications | Juvenile Services Publications
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]]>| Among the nearly 300 names on the Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial, the names of eight Kansas Department of Corrections officers are included. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mark Avery | Corrections Officer, Lansing Correctional Facility | Corrections Officers Mark Avery and Michael Bidatsch were on routine duty supervising the Lansing Correctional Facility recreation hall on May 22, 1993 when they were attacked and beaten with bar bell plates and a stocking cap stuffed with pool balls. Officer Avery died the next day at the University of Kansas Medical Center. |
| Robert D. Hurd | Corrections Officer, Kansas State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility) | On October 11, 1981, Corrections Officer Hurd died after being stabbed by an inmate who was angered by a disciplinary report that Officer Hurd was going to file. |
| Donald R. Martin | Corrections Officer, Lansing Correctional Facility | On August 19, 1978, Corrections Officer Martin was killed when he was attacked and beaten by an inmate who was holding a female hostage during an escape attempt. |
| Paul J. Weber | Parole Officer, Kansas City Parole Office | On October 19, 1976, Parole Officer Weber was killed after he went to the home of a parolee whose mother had requested assistance in removing her son from her residence. As Officer Weber followed the parolee into the kitchen, the man seized a butcher knife and stabbed Officer Weber. The parolee was convicted of assault on a law enforcement officer and first-degree murder |
| Henry N. Kenaga | Corrections Officer, Kansas State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility) | On June 20, 1954, Corrections Officer Kenaga was killed after responding to a situation in which inmates, armed with guns and knives, had rushed the visiting room and seized at least six hostages. The inmates were crossing the prison yard when they encountered Officer Kenaga who then attempted to prevent their escape. Officer Kenaga was fatally shot. After a brief exchange of gunfire and a call for additional enforcement officers, the inmates were surrounded and returned to their cells. They were charged with first-degree murder. |
| Lee White | Kansas State Industrial Reformatory (now Hutchinson Correctional Facility) | On July 25, 1928, Officer White was supervising five inmates who were working on the new grandstands at the state fairgrounds. Officer White was struck from behind and knocked unconscious by two inmates, Glenn Bellfield and Jake Schell. The two inmates escaped and shot a young girl while commandeering her car. White was treated by a local physician and then joined the search for the escaped inmates. White was a passenger in a vehicle with other officers during the search on July 26, 1928 when the vehicle failed to negotiate a turn and flipped. Officer White, who landed under the vehicle as it came rest, died at the scene. The others suffered minor injuries. After a cross-country manhunt the two escapees were captured following a shootout in Roswell, New Mexico on July 29, 1928. |
| David W. Burns | Corrections Officer, Kansas State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility) | On December 15, 1923, Officer Burns died after being shot four times by an escaped inmate. Officer Burns had traveled to Texarkana, Texas and was on a train returning with two escapees. While traveling through Alicia, Arkansas, one of the inmates shot Officer Burns four times. Before his death, Officer Burns told the doctor tending to his wounds that he was shot with a revolver believed to have been smuggled to the escapees while at the Texarkana train depot. One escapee was later caught in Arkansas. The second escapee, who had shot Officer Burns, was located following his arrest for a robbery in Meridian, Mississippi six months after Officer Burns’ death. |
| William H. Owens | Corrections Officer, Kansas State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility) | On October 5, 1905, Officer Owens died from injuries suffered during an escape that occurred the day before his death. Officer Owens had taken an inmate to conduct survey work outside the penitentiary. The inmate had delivered a severe blow to Officer Owen's solar plexus that resulted in internal bleeding and a heart attack. The inmate was quickly captured and charged with felonious assault and murder. |
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