TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly says she wants a review of state sentencing guidelines.
The Democratic governor said in an interview Tuesday with The Topeka Capital-Journal’s editorial board that she wants to redirect an overcrowded prison population to receive treatment instead of a cell.
Kelly says many of the people who are incarcerated don’t belong in prison. They lose their job, their family and become unemployable.
Prison reform could find bipartisan support in the Legislature.
Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning says he thinks it would get a lot of attention, adding it’s been talked about not only in Kansas but nationally.
Kelly says rehabilitation programs elsewhere have led to declines in recidivism. She wants the new head of the Kansas Department of Corrections to evaluate the prison system.
