Kansas prison population issues addressed in Lawrence
6:03 p.m. Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Kansas' prison population is expected to climb by 26 percent over the next nine years, and there are more than $500 million in associated costs.
With those potential problems lingering overhead, lawmakers, state officials and local leaders gathered in Lawrence Tuesday to discuss the situation and possible solutions.
Each year, 5,800 people are released from Kansas prisons, but within five years, half of them are back behind bars, most within a year.
But a program which began in Shawnee County back in 2003 is helping curb those numbers.
The "Kansas Re-entry and Risk Reduction" program helps inmates plan their transition back into traditional society.
"Right now, and again, I have to qualify this by saying they've only been out a short time, some of them up to about 12 months or a little more, but they're going back at the rate of about 12 to 18 percent. So, it's dramatic, what the difference is," Secretary of Corrections Roger Werholtz said.
The re-entry program helps inmates deal with housing, substance abuse, mental health and social stress issues.
A similar program was started in Sedgwick County in January.
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