Prison Closures Will Have Local Effects In Kansas
Plans by the Kansas Department of Corrections to mothball the Stockton Correctional Facility won’t take place without a fight.
Tuesday’s release of the proposed 2010 Kansas budget included a host of closures for the DOC, including virtually all of the minimum security facilities, including Stockton. The closures are a small part of the state’s efforts to plug what might be a $1 billion shortfall … DOC Secretary Roger Werholtz … said the decision to close Stockton and facilities in Toronto and Osawatomie had been difficult but necessary to meet the directives laid out by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
The Stockton prison houses 128 inmates and employs 33. By mothballing the facility, Werholtz said DOC will save $1.65 million. While there will be a layoff plan, he said the goal is to absorb all of the employees into other facilities. Some of the Stockton employees likely will be absorbed into the Norton Correctional Facility, while employees commuting from the south — including the Hays area — might be absorbed into the correctional facility at Larned …
Closing the minimum security prison will have other effects, most notably in the work crews that it provides to area lakes and communities — including Hays. Crews also trim grass along Kansas highways. “Those work crews do a tremendous amount of work for communities around here, including Hays and Stockton,” Rooks County Economic Development Director Roger Hrabe said.