Cutting Correctional Costs In Kansas Begins With Parole Revocations, Recidivism

By Noah Taborda, The Kansas Reflector

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Oct. 12, 2020

TOPEKA — A consultant working on Kansas criminal justice reform Monday said the key to unlocking cost savings in the state corrections system is shrinking parole revocation and recidivism rates by better preparing inmates to rejoin the workforce.

Patrick Armstrong, project manager for the Council of State Governments Justice Center’s justice reinvestment team in Kansas, told Kansas legislators there are upfront costs to a policy transition that will eventually ease the financial burden of incarcerating men and women.

“When that type of foresight is occurring, you can change behavior and reduce the need for incarceration later and ultimately pay savings later down the road that you will not see if you do not invest early in the system,” Armstrong said.

The Justice Reinvestment Initiative is a federally funded program overseen by the Council of State Governments, or CSG, that uses data collection to evaluate factors contributing to high corrections costs and find ways to redirect resources into programs that reduce incarceration rates. Kansas joined more than 30 other states last month when they implemented the initiative.

Kansas lawmakers have financial incentive to consider reform with a projected state tax revenue shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars that is complicated by COVID-19 economic turmoil.

Armstrong and colleagues from CSG shared new findings from the reinvestment initiative with members of the Kansas Criminal Justice Reform Commission.

He said the Kansas Department of Corrections is clearly struggling with parole revocations. In 2019, he said, the state spent $43 million to incarcerate people in trouble for parole supervision violations.

“Being able to understand the reasons that folks are revoked and looking at our conditions and supervision standards set us up in a way to promote success,” said Jennifer Kisela, an analyst with CSG.

Difficulty re-entering society is a leading indicator of revocation and recidivism in Kansas, said Erica Nelson, another analyst for CSG. An evaluation of Kansas prison admissions in 2019 found 98% of inmates assessed as a medium-to-high risk to re-offend also had high education and employment needs.

She said KDOC is prioritizing educational and occupational programs, but the agency is unable to meet inmate demand. Of the 2,000 people released during 2019 with moderate-to-high educational and employment needs, only 663 had been enrolled in pre-release services to address these issues.

“There are numerous reasons why a person was unable to receive education and employment services prior to their release,” Nelson said. “It could be because of a short sentence.”

Nelson said self-pay programs, like college-level courses, also inhibit the programming accessible to inmates.

Nelson recommended an increase in funding for education and employment programming and to carve out more physical space for these activities within KDOC facilities. She suggested a representative from KDOC be appointed to the KansasWorks state board to ensure the workforce development needs of people in the justice system are taken into account.

Marc Bennett, commission chairman and Sedgwick County district attorney, said the analysis will be beneficial in developing a reform blueprint. The commission is expected to submit a report to Gov. Laura Kelly and the Legislature by December.

“Identifying issues is one thing, but being able to quantify it with these numbers and data makes it much easier to sell. Not only in terms of identifying what we need to recommend, but also in making that pitch to the Legislature later that this is truly a priority,” Bennett said.

The Kansas Reflector seeks to increase people's awareness of how decisions made by elected representatives and other public servants affect our day-to-day lives. We hope to empower and inspire greater participation in democracy throughout Kansas.