Kansas
Step 3: Quantify savings and reinvest in select high-stakes communities.
If the new policies are implemented successfully, the state of Kansas will avoid having to build 1,292 additional prison beds over the next 10 years and save $80.2 million over 5 years in averted construction and operating costs. 7 As part of the legislative package enacted, policymakers appropriated $4.5 million to reinvest in the community corrections grant program and $2.4 million to reinvest in substance abuse and vocational programs. 8
Data collected and analyzed through the technical assistance made available by the Justice Center prompted state agencies to establish the New Communities Initiative (NCI), a major neighborhood reinvestment project in Wichita, coordinated by state, county, community, and city leaders. Geographic analyses of Wichita revealed that in 2004, Kansas taxpayers spent $11.4million to incarcerate people from a single neighborhood, as well as an additional $8.7 million on food stamps, unemployment insurance, and Temporary Assistance to Families. To integrate these funding streams and achieve better outcomes for this collective set of resources, NCI leaders are designing a common set of strategies around these issue areas: children and youth, behavioral and physical health, adult education and economic vitality, safe and secure communities, and housing, which has been identified as a key issue given the high incidence of dangerous and neglected housing in the area.
- This figure is dependent on when the state decides to build additional facilities.
- The package also included bonding authority to build prisons should it become necessary, although based on the plan enacted, the state may not have to build for 5 years.