Kansas DOC May Face Budget Cuts
The Re-entry Program is crucial to stop the revolving door for prison, but state budget cuts are forcing the Kansas Department of Corrections to cut those programs. “The Re-entry Program and Parole Services are what make our communities safe,” Sharidi Blackwood, Re-entry Program Director, said. News from KTKA.
Blackwood said they’ve had to cut staff and leave positions open, which gives Parole Officers like Donnie Hibler more work and fewer resources to work with. “When we don’t have the resources or the funds the staff to meet all those needs it becomes pretty scary, and it becomes a real safety issue and that is our number one concern,” Blackwood said.
Missy Woodward is a Program Consultant who works with mentally ill prisoners. “A lot of the mental health cases came to us with the shut down of the Topeka State Hospital,” Woodward said.
“The prisons are the new state hospitals now,” Parole Officer Hibler said.
If Missy can’t find the resources, like medication and housing for these mentally ill prisoners, crimes will continue to occur. “It’s going to impact the safety of the community, I hate to say when people get desperate they get desperate,” Woodward said.
Kelli Martinez’s job is to help people coming out of prison find work, but with a failing economy that has made her part of the re-entry program tough, “We see a lot of the jobs that used to be the given, that they could just walk into those aren’t so available now either,” Martinez said.
So with a troubled economy, and cuts to the Kansas Department of Corrections, it leaves many who work with offenders scared what will happen next. “Our biggest concern is safety for the community,” Blackwood said.
The Kansas Department of Corrections staff said they will continue to rely on other community programs for help. They said they have to get creative to get prisoners the help they need.
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