In approving the 20th Judicial District Central Kansas Community Corrections 2024 comprehensive plan during a special meeting Friday morning, Barton County commissioners stressed the importance of greater communication between CKCC and law enforcement, and demanded more progress reporting from the agency.

Amy Boxberger, CKCC director, presented what amounts to a state-mandated grant application to receive funds from the Kansas  Department of Corrections. These  documents require the review and approval of the Barton  County Commissioners, as the administrative county for the  district.

The 20th covers Barton, Ellsworth, Rice, Russell and Stafford counties, with Barton being the largest.

The total being sought is $680,724. 

“We are providing intensive supervision services for felony offenders in the judicial district,” she said. She does this with a staff of eight.

“We have been meeting with our advisory board and I have also met with the other county commissioners in the 20th Judicial District and have received approval for this petition,” she said.

“The grant we use is to really help us evaluate how we’re doing with evidence based principles and where the gaps are, and what funding or services that we need to do to effectuate positive self change for that long term change for our population to make our community safer,” Boxberger said.

The board consists of 15 members representing community corrections, county commissioners, county officials, the judiciary, law enforcement and mental health services.

A lack of communication

After complaints on April 5 by Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir that CKCC’s policies regarding repeat officers were lax, the agency came under scrutiny from the commission, said County Administrator Matt Patzner, an ex-officio member of the CKCC advisory board. “They quickly took the gathering information, getting up to speed on purpose of community corrections, and the philosophies and guidelines that govern what they do.”

The commission filled vacant advisory board seats, including the appointment of District 4 Commissioner Tricia Schlesinger “to bring additional perspectives to the table,” Patzner said.

Commission Chairman Shawn Hutchinson, District 3, “made a formal request for a specific review of the sanctions matrix and recommended changes, if any,” he said. The matrix is  a document that helps determine applicable sanctions based on violations.  

The steps were to optimize this matrix and foster “an environment where law enforcement and community corrections can cooperate and work together to combat the problem of drug abuse in our communities.”

“I definitely think we need to see more communication across the board, between law enforcement and Community Corrections,” Schlessinger said. “I feel like there have been some hurt feelings maybe on both sides. So now they aren’t communicating.

“And they have to learn to depend on each other and reach out to each other for help, and know that it’s going to get answered on both sides. That’s pretty important,” Schlessiger said.

Schlessiger also called on Boxberger to provide more progress reports to the commission.

A look at the numbers

Community Corrections evaluates the last closed fiscal year, in this case that is FY 2022 which concluded last June. In that span, they had 178 people who closed from the program, 150 of whom closed without going to prison, and 28 (15.7%) who did.

“That was a very good year for us as far as case closures and effectuating positive self change,” Boxberger said. Of the 28 revocations, 79% of the Barton County clients were not incarcerated.  

They are continuing to conduct cognitive classes in the next year, and have requested additional behavioral health funding facilitate new classes. “We want them to have that positive self-change within them and believe that can change.” 

She and CKCC strives to “give them the skills to provide long-term change,” she said. To help with this, they rely on a host of partner agencies and stakeholders. 

Funding will also be used for vouchers so clients can get treatment, and to contract with care providers for services.

Her staff and advisory board have also had a lot of discussion over the sanction matrix. “The matrix is important because it gives discretion to the (CKCC) officers to have a picklist to individualize responses for folks to get that change that we want from them and that helps them to be successful.”

“It’s not only just for the moment, we’re looking at long-term,” she said.

Over 90% of their budget is for staff. “They are the most important tools that we have to effectuate that change,” she said, adding she has included additional training in the budget.

When working with the clients “we really rely on coaching instead of being referees,” she said. Rather than pointing out every time the have a violation, they want to coach the person and give them the skills they need.

They also want to help educate the public, “so the community can feel confident that there are responses for negative behaviors,” she said. But, what they’ve learned, especially through the juvenile reform, is that putting people away doesn’t fix them. 

The state mandated successful completion rate is 75%. CKCC is at that, but the state also wants to see a 3% increase and the agency won’t achieve that, Boxberger said.  

They want to make sure their assessments are good and adequate interventions are available to help the clients be successful while keeping the community safe, she said.

She was asked about the matrix by Schlessiger. Boxberger said the majority of the board voted not to make any changes at this time.

But, “it is a fluid document,” Boxberger said. It can be revised at any point with out impacting the comprehensive plan.