My Field Trip to Prison

by Steve Shute

---

Last Thursday (7/31), at the invitation of Johnson County (KS) Sheriff Frank Denning, I had the opportunity to spend a good chunk of the evening in prison.  Actually, I spent it in two prisons – the Johnson County Adult Correctional Facility in downtown Olathe, and the New Century Adult Correctional Facility near Gardner.  No, I didn’t break any law – I was one of two citizens that accepted the Sheriff’s open invitation to tour the jails, as well as the Johnson County Crime Lab in Mission, at one of the “town hall” meetings regarding the 1/4 cent sales tax initiative for public safety on today’s August 5 primary ballot.

I began my odyssey at the Crime Lab.  I was hosted by Gary Howell, the crime lab’s director, whom I had also met at the Town Hall meeting.  He showed me around the building, which the crime lab has occupied since 1995 but outgrew its capacity long ago.  The Johnson County Crime Lab “complex,” or at least what passes for one, houses 10 forensic disciplines in a single-level building that takes up less than 20,000 square feet.  Needless to say, they are incredibly overcrowded, with two or even three disciplines sharing the same open room space.  The chemical analysis area is quite literally a couple of open tables in the middle of one of the rooms.  The vehicle analysis area is a two-bay garage area; in circumstances where there are several cars involved in a case, the cars have had to stay in the parking lot of the crime lab, exposed to the elements, to wait for forensic analysis.  However, in spite of the obvious physical limitations that the Crime Lab staff are under at their current complex, they have still been able to do excellent work, as was evidenced in the recent Kelsey Smith case.

My next stop was the Johnson County Adult Correctional Facility in downtown Olathe.  The administrator of the facility was not present for the tour, so a deputy was sent to accompany me.  On that day, the 246-bed prison was not over capacity, due to the fact that 164 inmates (at the time) were being “farmed out” to about a dozen prisons throughout eastern and central Kansas (as far away as El Dorado, near Wichita).  There are 5 levels at the prison, including a secure lower level, and the booking and inmate processing areas are pretty cramped and antiquated.  The whole prison is scheduled for an extensive renovation in the next few years, and with the ongoing jail expansion at the New Century facility, they should be able to bring the farmed out prisoners back to the Johnson County system, saving the taxpayers approximately $75 per “farmed out” prisoner per day.

My final stop was the New Century complex, where the chief administrator, Eric Livengood, gave me a tour of the prison.  The facility, opened less than seven years ago, is a two-floor, 250-bed detention center, mostly housing minimum- and medium-security inmates.  They are in the process of building a 500-bed, six-storey tower that will increase capacity to a level where Johnson County will be able to house all of the inmates in their system, with room to spare.  This modular “jail-in-a-box” includes a maximum-security wing, which will more than alleviate the maximum security congestion at the downtown Olathe facility.

Both Mr. Howell and Mr. Livengood spent over an hour with me personally touring me through their buildings, and they were extremely courteous and answered all of the questions I had about what they did and how they ran their facilities.

The reason why I went on this tour in the first place is because I wanted to see for myself (not take someone else’s word for it) the need for additional funding to refurbish and expand these critical public safety components.  (What’s especially distressing is that in three town hall meetings where the open invitation was issued, I was one of only two people to take the Sheriff up on his offer.  That’s really a testament to how little initative most people actually take to learn the truth for themselves, even when encouraged to do so.)

After going through these facilities for myself, I can say without a doubt that there is a critical need for funding and expansion, especially in the Crime Lab.

However, having said that, I steadfastly dispute the notion that the 1/4 cent sales tax reallocation that the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is looking for is the best and most accountable means to accomplish this, especially considering that the sales tax they are looking for (1) has no “sunset,” or expiration provision, and (2) includes $10 million annually with “no strings attached” to Johnson County’s cities.

I believe that before automatically imposing new taxes - especially ones that don’t ever end and constitute essentially a “blank check” to spend ever more money - Johnson County needs to re-examine their defective and convoluted budgeting process, re-evaluate spending priorities and cut if necessary, and then only when all existing avenues have been exhausted, look at the possibility of a property tax millage increase to make up for any shortfall.  This, to me, is the most accountable and responsible means that the BOCC has at their disposal to get the public safety entities in the county the proper level of funding while at the same time being good stewards of Johnson County taxpayer resources.

I think that, as good Constitutionalists that believe that limited, accountable government is one that will most efficiently and effectively utilize our taxpayer dollars, we need to vote NO on the sales tax question on August 5.  And, we need to find new, limited-government County Commissioners who believe that they are there to serve the people, and not the other way around.

---

Steve Shute is a member of the Governing Team of the Hope for America Coalition.  The opinions expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Hope for America Coalition or its members.  Steve can be reached at steve.shute@hfapac.org.