Priority Area 1: Engage and educate Kansas stakeholders on Justice Reinvestment policies and legislation to promote oversight and sustainability.
Update:
In December, following the on-site presentation to the Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight in Topeka, Kansas, CSG Justice Center staff continued to engage with key state stakeholders and agency leadership to discuss the next steps and sustainability of JRI policies. In addition, CSG Justice Center staff met with representatives from KDOC and KSSC to continue conversations about ongoing and future policy implementation.
Priority Area 2: Assist Kansas with monitoring progress, collecting data, and tracking outcomes associated with JRI policies.
Update:
In December, CSG Justice Center staff continued to work with the KSSC, KDOC, OJA, and the PRB on data collection and analysis. CSG Justice Center staff had additional calls with KSSC to discuss the execution of a data use agreement to track preconviction diversion treatment completion and data measures to assess the effects of preconviction diversion treatment. The data use agreement enables CSG Justice Center staff to monitor the implementation of HB 2026, also known as The Recovery from Addiction Funded Treatment (RAFT) program.
CSG Justice Center staff also monitored subaward funds spent by KSSC. Subaward spending to further IT system upgrades for KDOC, the PRB, and OJA is forthcoming, as agencies continue to experience data system upgrade challenges. In December, CSG Justice Center staff received the signed contract amendment from KDOC to extend the subaward spending through March 2023.
Priority Area 3: Improve the community supervision system by creating efficiencies, consistency, coordination, and collaboration between OJA, KDOC, and Community Corrections entities
Update:
In December, CSG Justice Center staff continued to support the community supervision implementation group by facilitating biweekly meetings through the end of 2022 to direct their efforts to implement policies.
In December, the community supervision implementation group met and finalized drafts of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to ensure that people on supervision do not have more than one active supervision officer. The MOU was reviewed by the OJA legal team and was shared with the group for a final review. The community supervision implementation group struggled to develop a plan for coordinated training, quality assurance, and continuous quality improvement due to the disjointed nature of community supervision in Kansas and a lack of official guidance on coordination between agencies and branches of government. However, the group is looking to coordinate a training presentation to implement the terms of the concurrent supervision MOU.
Priority Area 4: Implement standardized general conditions of supervision and utilize a risk, need, responsivity (RNR) framework to select special conditions of supervision.
Update: In December, CSG Justice Center staff met with Kansas stakeholders to discuss the need for standardized general conditions of supervision and recommended to the KSSC that they adopt the standardized general conditions of supervision policy to continue JRI in the state. However, legislation is needed for the judiciary to adopt these conditions.
Priority Area 5: Engage with KDOC and KDADS to improve reentry and behavioral health services for people in the criminal justice system.
Update: There were no updates in December
New Insights:
• Democratic Governor Laura Kelly won reelection over Republican challenger Derek Schmidt who is the current attorney general. Governor Kelly has backed bipartisan initiatives to address issues in the state related to incarceration, reentry, and criminal justice reform and remains an advocate for JRI in Kansas.
• Republican lawmakers voted unanimously to name Republican candidate Dan Hawkins the next Kansas House Speaker. Additionally, Representative Stephen Owens has been assigned to the appropriations committee and will continue to serve as chair of the Joint Committee on Corrections & Juvenile Justice Oversight.
Press Clips:
• Kansas Reflector: https://kansasreflector.com/2022/11/29/kansas-community-corrections-pro…
• The Lawrence Times: https://lawrencekstimes.com/2022/11/29/ks-comm-cx-seeks-11m/
• The Lawrence Times: https://lawrencekstimes.com/2022/12/18/vera-report-dgco-cjcc/
Please check the box next to the following questions if the answer is 'yes'.
Please enter the applicable Event Date if there is an Event associated with this TTA.
When entering an Event Date, the Time is also required.
If the TTA is targeted to a particular audience or location, please complete the questions below.
Milestones are an element, activity, work product, or key task associated with completing the TTA (e.g. kick-off meeting, collect data from stake holders, deliver initial data analysis).
Please complete the fields below, if applicable, to create a milestone for this TTA.
Please respond to the Performance Metrics below. The Performance Metrics questions are based on the TTA Type indicated in the General Information section of the TTA.
Please submit a signed letter of support from your agency’s executive or other senior staff member. The letter can be emailed to or uploaded with this request. The letter should be submitted on official letterhead and include the following information:
- General information regarding the request for TTA services, i.e., the who, what, where, when, and why.
- The organizational and/or community needs specific to the request for TTA services.
- The benefits or anticipated outcomes from the receipt of TTA services.
By submitting this application to BJA NTTAC, I understand that upon approval of this application for TTA, the requestor agrees to keep BJA NTTAC informed of any circumstances that may impact the delivery of the TTA, including changes in the date of the event, event cancellation, or difficulties communicating with the assigned TTA provider.
Please call [site:phone] if you need further assistance completing this application.