Here's Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Robert Siedlecki Jr. with one of the least comforting quotes you'll ever read: "This population continues to grow. SRS has an obligation to the people of Kansas to keep these individuals separated from society at large, and to house them in buildings that are both safe and secure."
Double gulp.
So how many people are locked up in Larned State Hospital? Right now, 214. But about 18 new residents move in to Larned every year.
Here's how the LJW describes Kansas' sexual-predator treatment program:
Enacted in 1994, the program has been controversial because it indefinitely holds convicted sex offenders past their prison sentences if they have been civilly committed under the law because they have been deemed a continuing threat to the community.
SRS officials want $2 million to remodel Larned, so there'll be space for 34 more sexual predators. They also want $200,000 to remodel Parsons State Hospital to house eight sex offenders "who are transitioning for possible release."
Because this is Kansas, I expect they'll get it. But $2 million buys them only about two years at Larned, unless the state is finally releasing some of the sexual predators being held indefinitely.
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