Incoming Gov. Kelly, Koch Industries agree on need for reform as Kansas prisons fill up

Wichita-based Koch Industries – a major proponent of the just-passed federal legislation – also wants to work with Kelly on changes in Kansas.

 

The incoming Democratic governor’s call for action comes after the state’s prison system experienced its largest increase in inmates in a decade. Projections show the inmate population exceeding capacity within the next couple years.

 

Kelly’s agenda reflects a growing movement in Kansas to soften penalties for marijuana use and legalize medical use.

 

“Right now we are incarcerating many, many people who are non-violent, first-time drug offenders. Those folks no more belong in prison than you or I. What they need, if anything, is treatment,” Kelly told an audience in Topeka recently during a event hosted by the Kansas News Service.

 

The U.S. House approved the First Step Act on Thursday, after the Senate passed it earlier this week. The bill now goes to Trump, who supports the legislation. The bill expands rehabilitation programs and could result in shorter sentences for non-violent offenders at the federal level.

 

Based on her public comments, Kelly wants to pursue many of the same goals of the federal legislation, but for the state criminal justice system.

 

“We’ve got to figure out a way to divert them from the correctional system,” Kelly said of first-time drug offenders.

 

Kansas Secretary of Corrections, Joe Norwood, spoke at El Dorado Correctional Facility July 13, 2017, about an earlier incident that occurred at the prison. The correctional system in Kansas has been dealing with staff shortage issues recently.

 

Koch Industries is also signaling it would welcome action from Kelly on criminal justice. The company has been a major supporter of Congress taking action at the federal level, and the same holds true in Kansas.

 

Charles and David Koch have been supportive of criminal justice reform for years, shaped in part by their libertarian politics.

 

Koch was also supportive of Gov. Jeff Colyer’s executive order in May prohibiting state agencies from asking job applicant’s about their criminal record during the initial stage of the application process.

 

“Governor Brownback and Governor Colyer were tremendous advocates for criminal justice reform, particularly on reentry. So, it’s great to have Governor-elect Kelly echoing their commitment. We look forward to working with the incoming administration to advocate and to implement much-needed reforms in Kansas,” Koch Industries spokesman David Dziok said.

 

As discussion over criminal justice reform appears set to pick up in Kansas, the state faces a rising inmate population.

 

Kansas’s male inmate population will exceed capacity in fiscal year 2020, which begins July 1, 2019, according to projections included in the Department of Corrections’ annual report issued in October.

 

Over the next 10 years, the state’s prison population is forecast to grow by more than 2,000 inmates, according to the Kansas Sentencing Commission. That’s an increase of nearly 21 percent.

 

As of June, Kansas prisons housed 9,973 inmates. By 2028, that number is projected to rise to 12,054.

 

The current forecast estimates that the number of inmates incarcerated for drug offenses will grow at an even faster pace. By 2028, the commission projects Kansas will have an additional 439 drug-offense inmates, a jump of roughly 29 percent.

 

But Ed Klumpp, a lobbyist for several Kansas law enforcement associations, cautioned that it’s not the case that law enforcement are putting away a large number of people for simple possession of drugs.

 

“There are those that go in … but they’re usually not marijuana offenders, usually. They’re offenders of hard drugs who have multiple convictions and just don’t go into treatment programs,” Klumpp said.

 

Kelly may find bipartisan support for changing sentencing laws. Rep. Russ Jennings, a Lakin Republican who chairs the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, warned the prison system faces serious capacity issues.

 

“Our prisons are beyond full and in four years we will be at a point where we will trigger the potential federal intervention around conditions of confinement. That’s a big deal,” Jennings told a legislative breakfast gathering in Johnson County this month.

 

Federal courts have ordered states to take action to improve their prisons in the past. Federal courts have previously intervened in California’s prison system, and the Associated Press reported in November that Nevada prisons are at risk of a federal takeover due to overcrowding.

 

Beyond prison capacity issues, Kelly and other advocates of changes say prison has a destructive effect on low-level offenders.

 

“When we incarcerate those people for first-time drug offense, we’re really separating them from work, separating them from family and doing great devastation to them individually, but also, I think, our economy,” Kelly said.

 

A coalition of groups across the state is pushing for changes under the banner Kansans for Smart Justice. The coalition says the state’s criminal justice system needlessly incarcerates people and works against those trying to make a fresh start.

 

The ACLU of Kansas is a member of the coalition. Its interim director, Lauren Bonds, said Kelly deserves kudos for her attention to criminal justice reform.

 

“This issue remains so urgent and so pressing it has brought together groups as disparate as the ACLU of Kansas and Koch Industries in search of solutions,” Bonds said.

 

Bonds added that in addition to supporting changes by the Sentencing Commission, the ACLU of Kansas hopes Kelly will also support legislation that standardizes and promotes diversion for non-violent offenders and de-felonize non-violent drug crimes. In diversion, low-level offenders aren’t prosecuted in exchange for community service, treatment or other actions.

 

Colyer said in an interview Thursday that Kansas has “started down the road” of looking at reform and said action is needed.

 

“We’ve started those discussions here. Those are things that do need to happen,” Colyer said.

 

“How do we protect our citizens, how do we reform prisoners so they can reenter society, be productive, but how do we protect ourselves, too? I think it’s good to have that look in the future here.”