McPHERSON — Saturday, Oct. 21, the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty (KCADP) will host an abolition conference entitled “The Kansas Death Penalty: What A Waste, 2017!”
This conference is free and open to the public. On-site registration starts at 12:30 p.m., with the meeting at 1, at Church of the Brethren, 200 N. Carrie, McPherson.
Speakers for the event include:
• Celeste Dixon, Larned, who lost her mother to murder and traveled the legal journey through execution of the offender;
• Roger Werholtz, retired Secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections;
• Carolyn McGinn, Chair of Senate Ways and Means Committee, who will speak on the death penalty’s cost.
The speakers at this event will address the very real impact of the Kansas death penalty from their own personal experience. In testimony this February, former Kansas Secretary of Corrections Werholtz noted, “I am a lifelong resident of Kansas. I would ask you to think about what Kansas has received to date as a return on its investment in the death penalty. When resources are so scarce, I would encourage you not to throw more away on such a wasteful policy.”
Board Chair, Donna Schneweis, noted, “This conference is very timely. The news in recent weeks has been full of reports about how Kansas prisons have staffing shortages. They’ve also reported on the budget challenges at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation which are impacting that agency’s work. It raises real questions about what the ongoing expense of the Kansas death penalty is doing to our overall public safety.”