TOPEKA — The new head of Kansas’ prison system is telling legislators that more frequent inmate transfers and housing offenders two to a cell helped contribute to several riots during the past two years.
Interim Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz’s assessment of the factors behind inmate disturbances led lawmakers to say Wednesday that they previously did not have the full picture of what happened.
Werholtz has painted a picture of a prison system in crisis in briefings for lawmakers this week. He has suggested that understaffing is compromising safety and said several prisons sustained serious damage from riots in 2017 and 2018.
The department’s officials previously had acknowledged that some inmates were upset by being moved but rejected the idea that increasing the number housed two to a cell was a factor.
