6A
Wednesday, September 6, 1995
STATE/REGION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Expansion plan sought for Kansas prisons
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Corrections officials are planning new short-term prison expansion projects because the number of inmates in state prisons continues to grow more rapidly than expected.
The Department of Corrections reported yesterday that the state had 7,078 inmates in its custody at the end of August, an increase of 98 inmates since the end of July. During the past year, the population has increased by 13.4 percent.
Bill Miskell, the department's spokesman, said its officials are working on expansion proposals for the 1996 Legislature, which convenes in January. Typically, such projects involve converting space into housing for inmates or placing two inmates in a
single cell.
"The population is still running ahead of projections," Miskell said. "This kind of an increase re-enforces our need for our current efforts to find additional short-term capacity."
The state has space to keep 7,307 inmates in its custody, meaning the state prison system is 96.9 percent full.
The department is operating under an April 1989 order from U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers of Topeka. The order, which resulted from some inmates' lawsuit over prison conditions, set capacities at each prison and forbade overcrowding.
Since July 1, 1993, the department has added space for 439 inmates through 26 separate expansion and renovation projects. It also is proposing to build new housing units at the
maximum security prison outside El Dorado, at a cost of up to $35 million.
Two short-term expansion projects still are underway. The department hopes to finish renovations in Lansing to add space for 56 inmates by Oct. 15. It also is converting abandoned Winfield State Hospital Training Center to make space for 96 inmates.
Miskell said the department has not yet identified where it can add space quickly to increase the prison system's capacity, but it should have a list ready for legislators in January.
He also said the department planned to revise its figures on how many inmates it can expect to have in its custody in the near future.
"Within the next six to eight weeks, we expect to have a new set of projections," Miskell said.
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Secretary John LaFever announced the state Department of Revenue today will begin enforcing a 1995 state law requiring collection of the state motor fuel tax on gasoline and diesel delivered for sale on Native-American reservations.
However, Native Americans who pay the tax will be able to get the 18-cent gasoline and 20-cent diesel taxes refunded. Non-Native Americans also will pay the tax.
LaFever said in a statement. "The intent of the law is being fulfilled, creating a fairer and more equitable tax system."
State taxes cannot be assessed against Native Americans on items sold on their reservations because the tribes are sovereign nations. But non-Native Americans can be charged the tax, the attorney general has held.
Until now, distributors who sold fuel to retailers on reservations could claim an exemption from the state's fuel tax.
The 1995 legislature removed that exemption, requiring the department to collect taxes from fuel distributors when the fuel is delivered and sold on reservations.
Kansas has four Native-American reservations in northeast Kansas; the Prairie Band Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Iowa and Sac and Fox.
LaFavor asked Attorney General Carla Stovall whether the new law was constitutional. She said it was, and LaFaver said the state would start enforcing it.
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