By Andy Marso
The Capital-Journal
Kansas — Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts told a Senate committee Tuesday that he is looking for ways to “stem the tide or bend the curve” on rising prison populations to ease overcrowding.
Roberts and Kansas Sentencing Commission executive director Scott Schultz gave the Senate Judiciary Committee a preview of legislation supported by Gov. Sam Brownback that Roberts said could free up as many as 800 beds in the next two years.
It includes $5 million in funding over that period, new authority for probation supervisors and graduated penalties for probation violators — all aimed at prioritizing supervision of high-risk offenders and reducing rates of re-offense.
“It’s a pretty promising thing,” Schultz said of the legislation, which he said his group is finishing reviewing and should be introduced next week. Roberts said the recommendations are coming from his department’s Justice Reinvestment work group, established last year in conjunction with the Pew Center for the States and the U.S. Justice Department.
They include a new system for dealing with “technical” probation violations that don’t amount to new crimes, such as failing to report to a probation officer. The first offense would land the violator in prison for 120 days, for the second they would serve 180 days, and for the third their probation would be revoked completely and they would serve their full sentence.
Full story: State officials look to manage prison population