Kansas prisons see drop in recidivism

Feb 6, 2008

Roger Werholtz MSW, Kansas State Secretary of Corrections is a 1978 graduate of the University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare where he continues to serve as a field instructor for “administrative track” MSW students.

Full Article – http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/475592.html

The percentage of Kansas inmates who commit new crimes while on supervised release has dropped significantly over five years.The rate, which was a little more than 5 percent in 2002, fell to 2.2 percent last year, Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz told lawmakers Monday.

He attributed the reduction to increased legislative funding for programs that supervise inmates after they leave prison, and more dollars for alcohol and drug treatment.

Werholtz said that with fewer offenders returning to prison, the number of inmates in Kansas prisons has decreased from 9,153 in 2004 to 8,854 in mid-2007.

“There is sufficient (prison) capacity to meet our needs for the next 10 years,” Werholtz told the House Appropriations Committee.

However, he said that prediction assumed that the Legislature would not pass new sentencing laws that would put more offenders in prison.

“During the last week of January, the prison population fell below 8,700, which was the first time that had been done since July, 2002,” he said.

Werholtz praised the passage last year of SB 14, which enacted a grant program to encourage community corrections programs to reduce revocation rates at least 20 percent.

Submited by Gary Bachman.
This story is a reader submission. If you would like to submit a story about a social worker(s) or social work issues, send an email to media@naswdc.org.

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