8
Friday, September 15, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Prison officials seek improved conditions
Penitentiary is ordered to reduce overcrowding
By Derek Schmidt Kansan staff writer
LANSING — The Kansas State Penitentiary is overcrowded, but officials are working to improve conditions for its inmates.
About 1,825 inmates now reside in the penitentiary, and officials want to reduce that number to 1,700 by Oct. 1, said.
The American Corrections Association will inspect the prison Sept. 18, Roberts said, to evaluate its progress toward accreditation. The prison is under a court order to reduce overcrowding, and must receive accreditation by Oct. 1, 1991. Roberts said.
"I don't view this as just a requirement that the courts are making us do." Roberts said. "I view this as a more positive system."
The long-range goal is to have no more than one prisoner per cell, Roberts said. To meet that goal, officials plan to have 1,262 inmates by July 1991.
Reducing the number of prisoners would not necessarily mean releasing dangerous criminals, Roberts said, because the prison could free space by transferring medium security prisoners now held in maximum security cells to other prisons.
The penitentiary is the last stop for the state prison system's most dangerous inmates, Roberts said.
"We end up with escape prone, assaultive, predatory types of inmates," he said.
Roberts said about a dozen maximum security prisoners are reclassified each month to medium security or are paroled. He added that Kansas has about a 30 percent return rate among its parolees.
The prison has several programs designed to help inmates avoid trouble after they are released.
When inmates enter the prison system, they are tested for drugs. Those who test positive get treatment and often are required to continue treatment after release, said Tom Nichols, director of the drug and alcohol treatment program.
Nichols said 82 percent of the inmates were convicted of crimes
don't view this as just a requirement that the courts are making us do, I view this as a more positive system.'
Ray Roberts
Penitentiarv director
related to drugs.
Inmates are tested weekly while in prison, said Rudy Stupar, deputy director of operations. But some still use drugs.
He said drugs were smuggled in by guards or visitors.
"There's no denying it," Stupar said. "It's here."
The prison also has a sex offender treatment program. Theron Weldy, an associate in the firm that administers the program, said sex offenders constituted 20 to 25 percent of the inmate population and about a 60 percent average rate of returning to their criminal habits after parole.
"One of the things we're trying to do is to reduce the number of victims." Weldy said.
Prisoners also work at the prison, including renovating the facility itself. Inmaes provide all the labor for the renovation, except for work required for security systems, said Bill Lucas, public information officer.
Some inmates further their educations at the high school and college levels.
Roger Haden, education coordinator for St. Mary's College, which administers the prison's education program, said that 60 percent of the inmates functioned at or below the eighth grade level, but they were street smart, especially about drugs.
"They can tell you about grams and ounces, for example, but not about decimals," he said.
Stupar said that the state's paying for inmates' education while in prison was controversial.
"You get into a question of what the public wants from its corrections program," he said. "Is it punishment or is it rehabilitation?"
Kent Gilbert/KANSAN
Kent Gilbert/KANSA
Inmates in maximum security can spend time playing basketball.
Barbed wire surrounds the prison.
YOU DON'T NEED A COUPON!
Buy One
Get One
ORIGINAL GOURMET
Cinnamon Roll™
Not valid
with any
other
offer.
Explore
09/10/89
Lansing has been home to James Pollock, who is serving a life sentence, for almost a decade.
Shuser, acting deputy director of programs. Because inmates are the store's customers, they are paying for their own recreation.
The maximum security courtyard comprises a small patch of worn grass surrounded by concrete and steel. There is a basketball court and a tennis court, where the record for most tennis match was set, Lucas said.
Cell house C, renovated three years ago, houses prisoners who for some reason cannot interact with the prison population, Slusher said. These "protective inmates" include the severely mentally ill.
An odor permeates cell house C.
The mentally ill inmates are fed in their cells because they are likely to become violent. Slusher said.
"That's their incense," Lucas said.
"They light up a piece of paper and just kind of let it smolder. Other times, it's mattresses."
Adjacent to the medium security facility is maximum security; it is like another world. Maximum security is surrounded by the original prison walls, which were built of limestone about the time of the Civil War. The walls, 27 feet high and about 10 feet thick, are covered with metal razor wire and spotlights. Numbers are painted on the walls, so guards in the watchtowers can quickly report the location of any disturbance, officials said.
A religious organization donated money to put cable television in each of the cells, Lucas said, but inmates must buy their own televisions from the prison store. Because of the donation, the programming includes a prescribed number of religious broadcasts, Lucas said.
The renovated part of cell house A, which has been occupied since April 1, is not air conditioned, but it does have ceiling fans. Slusher said.
Medium security prisoners can be incarcerated for almost any offence, Lucas said, but most are serving terms of three years or less.
Many of the 933 maximum security prisoners are housed in cell house A, which is being renovated. The completed cells in this building are the best-maintained in the prison, Lucas said.
"If the inmates want to leave their beds ummde so they look like my son's in other parts of the facility, but not in call house A." Lucas said. "But not in call house A."
All inmates must have yard time, Lucas said, but for some it may be as little as five hours a week.
applications for replacement Senators in:
Nunemaker, Fine Arts, LA&S,
Graduate & Law
Prison
A program beginning in November will try to teach the mentally ill inmates skills, such as janitorial skills, Slusher said, but he was not optimistic about its effectiveness.
"Most of these guys don't want to work," Shulsher said. "They want to sit under the floor, not nothing." The club abolished group you're ever going to meet."
The cells in cell house A contain 12 square feet of storage, a bunk, a toilet and a sink. Immates may not hang items on the wall or stack things for storage. Lucas said. They share a common shower.
The prison has 9 to 10 percent protective inmates, compared with 2 to 4 percent nationally. Shusher said.
Continued from p. 1
Applications can be picked up in the
Student Senate Office, 410 Kansas Union ,864-3710
Application Deadline: 9/28/89 5 p.m.
A court order requires that each of those prisoners spend time outside his cell each day, Slusher said. But many of them refuse to leave their cells and require individual guards when they are outside.
"Some guys like to live like this," Slusher said,
701 W. 9th
841-6043
YOGURT
AND
HAAGEN DAZ
ICE CREAM
TOO!
We've Got Something To Fit Every Budget.
*Appliances
*Clothing
It Makes Cents!
*Dishes
*Furniture
OVER 1,000 NEW ITEMS DAILY!
The Salvation Army
1818 Massachusetts
KICK-OFF YOUR WEEKEND AT THE HOLIDOME!
FRIDAY: Italian Buffet — $599
and
LIVE JAZZ with the
Tommy Johnson Quartet — 5 to 9 p.m.
SATURDAY: Pep Rally — 10:45 a.m.
75 $^{\textcircled{4}}$ draws — 11 to 1 a.m.
Prime Rib Buffet — 5 to 9 p.m.
Prime Rib Bullet — 5 to 9 p.m.
Over Easy playing LIVE — 7 to 11 p.m.
Over Easy playing LIVE 10 to 11pm
200 McDonald Dr. 841-7077