By Alyssa Scott

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA – Handcuffs, leg irons, belly chains — in most Kansas jurisdictions, full shackles are used for every juvenile offender who comes to court from juvenile detention centers, regardless of the offense.

According to Benet Magnuson, executive director of Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, of the more than 300 youth incarcerated in the state’s two secure juvenile facilities, 40 percent have not committed a crime against people.

“Kansas Appleseed started taking a look at juvenile justice reforms in Kansas following a 2012 legislative post audit of the juvenile prison in Topeka,” Magnuson said. “What we found was that a lot of the kids at that facility were there for non-persona offenses, so they had been adjudicated for things like drug and property crimes. Fifteen percent of the kids who walk through the door in a given year were there for misdemeanors only.”

These inappropriate placements in the juvenile justice system have negative effects not just on the youth, but also on the economy. According to a testimony Magnuson prepared for the Kansas House earlier this year, it costs $243 per day to keep a youth in a secure juvenile facility and it costs $133 per day for out-of-home placements. Kansas spends $27 million on its two secure juvenile facilities and $31 million on out-of-home placements, which are typically residential centers for youth in the custody of the state juvenile authority. Josh Weber, program director for juvenile justice at the CSG Justice Center, said Kansas is moving toward utilizing criteria that would reduce these costs.

“One of the potential benefits of Kansas really trying to put this more consistent objective criteria in place is that you can divert more of those youth to effective community-based services for a fraction of the cost of putting them in residential placement and with those effective services, you can also reduce recidivism rates and re-incarceration rates in both the juvenile and adult system,” Weber said.

The economy isn’t the only area experiencing negative effects from the juvenile justice system. Magnuson said in out-of-home placement centers, 80 percent of the youth are low- to moderate-risk on the Youth Level Service scale and research shows they are not benefitting from the placement.

“Even if we put a pretty low bar for success and define it basically as just not getting kicked out of your program, still the majority of kids fail at these out-of-home placements,” Magnuson said. “Right now, we’ve got a lot of kids going into these placements and they don’t have the resources or regulations to offer meaningful programming and services for these kids.”

Since a large amount of youth offenders are being assigned to out-of-home placements for misdemeanors, Magnuson said they only stay for a few weeks or months, so there is no time to educate them and provide services that will make a positive change in their lives. According to a report from the Council of State Governments, about 30 percent of youth placed in juvenile correctional facilities stay no longer than six months, and this statistic increases to more than 80 percent for those in youth residential centers.

Nina Salomon, senior policy analyst at the CSG Justice Center, said using specialized services to educate youth in the juvenile justice system is a key part of improving their long-term outcomes.

“We have to be really sure that the placement is appropriate and that it provides the services and addresses the needs of that particular youth, whether it’s mental health or substance use or behavioral therapy or anger management, whatever the case may be,” Salomon said. “It’s really important to make sure that a placement has those services and really matches those needs of the kids and also matches the level of offense.”

When youth are improperly placed and end up staying in juvenile facilities for short durations, Salomon said they experience higher recidivism, poor health outcomes and negative academic results. All contribute to overall lower lifetime earnings, Salomon said.

The CSG report for Kansas showed high recidivism rates, which indicate the likelihood that an offender will be a repeat offender. Thirty percent of youth in case management are re-incarcerated in juvenile or adult systems within a three-year period, and for youth in secure juvenile correctional facilities the rate is 42 percent.

Community-based services are an alternative to secure facilities and out-of-home placements. According to Magnuson’s testimony, it costs $16 per day to put a youth under probation within the community. Currently, Kansas spends only $25 million on all types of juvenile justice programs within communities, which include intensive supervision probation, case management and prevention. Magnuson said the state should invest in this area and keep low-risk youth in their communities instead of state facilities.

“I think the research would say, and hopefully this is the direction Kansas is moving, is that we pull low-risk kids out of the system completely, that we reduce the length of stay for kids who are in the facility, and that we take the resources and money that we were wasting on locking those kids up for years on end without any effect and invest it in really meaningful programs,” Magnuson said.

The Kansas legislature started making this change with House Bill 2588, which went into effect last July and established an alternative procedure for adjudication of juvenile misdemeanors. Weber said in order to reform the system completely, the state will have to create consistent criteria to use when placing youth offenders.

“Right now, one of the challenges is that there isn’t any consistent criteria across Kansas,” Weber said. “I think there was some recent legislation that was passed that requires court services to use risk assessments and to make sure that those results are reported to the court, so that’s a great first step.”

When Weber presented his report at a joint House and Senate Corrections Committees meeting in March, Rep. John Rubin (R-Shawnee) said it could push legislature to consider a comprehensive reform bill in the 2016 session. Magnuson said the government needs to continue working to find a solution because youth offenders are at such a critical point in their lives.

“Kids in general are some of the most potentially vulnerable people in our state, and then of all the kids in our state, some of the ones who are just exceptionally vulnerable are ones that are in the juvenile justice system,” Magnuson said. “If Kansas wants to catch up to the rest of the country, we’re going to have to make some pretty broad and serious reforms.”

Alyssa Scott is a University of Kansas junior from Wichita majoring in journalism and French.

MANHATTAN- A Kansas teen died in an accident just before 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in Riley County.

The Riley County Police Department reported Cheyanne Olivia Huggins, 18, Junction City, died in a one-vehicle rollover accident with entrapment in the 3200 Block of Stagg Hill Road in Manhattan.

Responding officers reported that the vehicle had three occupants at the time of the accident. Huggins was pronounced dead at the scene.

A male passenger was transported to Stormont Vail in Topeka,

The driver of the vehicle is in stable condition at Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan.

The preliminary investigation indicates all occupants were wearing seatbelts. The exact cause of the accident remains under investigation.

By DAN MARGOLIES
Kansas dropped seven places in a report assessing which states are the healthiest for seniors while Missouri moved up one spot.

The third edition of the United Health Foundation’s “America’s Health Rankings Senior Report” rated Kansas 24th in overall health for seniors and Missouri 38th.

The report looked at 35 measures of senior health in categories including behavior, community and environment, policy, clinical care and health outcomes.

Kansas’ strengths, according to the report, include a low prevalence of chronic drinking, high rates of volunteerism and few poor mental health days. Its weaknesses include a high percentage of low-care nursing home residents (45th worst in the country), low enrollment in the SNAP/Food Stamp program (40th) and a low percentage of diabetes management (41st).

Missouri’s strengths include low prevalence of underweight seniors, ready availability of home-delivered meals and high flu vaccination coverage. Its weaknesses include a high prevalence of smoking (42nd worst), a high percentage of low-care nursing home residents (47th) and a high prevalence of teeth extractions (47th).

Vermont was rated the healthiest state for seniors and Louisiana the worst.

Dan Margolies is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

PRATT – Two people were injured in an accident just before 2 p.m. on Saturday in Pratt County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Ford van
carrying students from USD 255 in Fowler and driven by Donald W. Shumard, 55, Fowler, was westbound on U54 just east of North East 100th Avenue.

The vehicle went left of center and hit an eastbound semi.

Shumard and one passenger Kameron N. Meyer, 18, Fowler, were transported to the hospital in Pratt.

Ten other passengers including nine students were not injured.

The semi driver from Colorado was not injured.

Shumard and the semi driver were the only individuals properly restrained at the time of the accident.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two earthquakes have hit south-central Kansas, and one could be felt almost 100 miles away.

The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake measuring 3.3 on the Richter Scale hit southwest of Pratt near Sun City in Barber County on Saturday morning. A second earthquake measuring 4.0 hit in nearly the same area about three hours later.

The second earthquake could be felt in Wichita. The Wichita Eagle reports both earthquakes measured about three miles deep.

More than 200 earthquakes have been recorded in Kansas since 2013 in an unprecedented spike in seismic activity. In April, the U.S. Geological Survey released a report that said man-made quakes tied to oil industry operations have been on the rise.

PRATT – Two people were killed in an accident just after 11 a.m. on Saturday in Pratt County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 International semi was eastbound on U.S.54 twelve miles west of Pratt.

The truck went left of center and struck a westbound 2003 Dodge Dakota driven by Nasario A. Trujillo, 60, Haysville

Both vehicles went into the North ditch and a 2000 GMC Yukon driven by Kim M. Boone, 52, Toronto, also struck the Dakota in the north ditch.

Trujillo and a passenger Trujillo, Mary Lou Trujillo, 58, Haysville were pronounced dead at the scene.

Boone was transported to Pratt Regional Medical Center.
A passenger in the Yukon Karla Y. Boone, 48, Toronto, was transported to Wesley Medical Center.

The semi driver from Winfield was not injured. All were properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP.

By ANDY MARSO

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the Kansas Highway Patrol must pay the University of Kansas Hospital for medical treatment the hospital provided to an uninsured man who was brought in by state troopers after crashing his car in a high-speed chase.

In a decision released Friday, the court upheld a Wyandotte County District Court judgment finding the highway patrol liable for the costs of the man’s care.

The high court said under a law passed in 2006, KHP was liable for the costs of treating Wayne Thomas because the state agency had Thomas in its custody when he was brought to the hospital. “KHP suggests the statute is ambiguous because it could be read to obligate either the County or KHP to pay for Thomas’ medical expenses,” the decision states. “But there is no ambiguity — an agency is liable for the medical expenses of a person in its custody.”

According to the court decision, a state trooper stopped Thomas in Wyandotte County for speeding, and as soon as the trooper exited his vehicle, Thomas took off. A high-speed chase ensued, ending when Thomas crashed his car into a tree. The trooper took Thomas in his patrol car to the hospital, where Thomas was treated for his crash injuries overnight.

The parties involved agreed that Thomas had no feasible way to pay his medical bills, which amounted to about $25,000. But they disagreed about who should be liable for the bills.

The KU Hospital Authority sued Wyandotte County and the Kansas Highway Patrol. The justices agreed with the lower court’s determination that, under K.S.A. 22-4612(a) of the state’s legal code, only the highway patrol was liable.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office represented the highway patrol in the case. A lawyer from the attorney general’s office attempted to argue that Thomas was not in the agency’s custody after the trooper who brought him in removed his handcuffs and left the hospital.

But the justices rejected that argument, stating that Thomas was under arrest and in custody when the decision to seek treatment was made.

“Here, because Thomas was under arrest and in the KHP trooper’s custody, he had no ability to seek medical care on his own,” the decision states.

“He was wholly dependent on the trooper. Under the law discussed in past Kansas appellate decisions, this means a governmental entity became liable for Thomas’ medical care since he was both a prisoner and indigent.”

The justices noted that a 1985 case, Wesley Med Center v. City of Wichita, set a precedent that Kansas counties were responsible for medical expenses incurred following the arrest of an offender who could not pay, if the offender was charged with a state crime and delivered to the county’s custody.

But the justices wrote that the 2006 law “superseded” that legal precedent by establishing that the liability for medical expenses rested with whatever government agency had custody of the offender at the time the medical treatment was given. “The Legislature chose words that departed from the holding in Wesley,” the decision states.

“Instead of simply stating that a cap would apply if a governmental entity was liable for an indigent criminal offender’s medical bills, the Legislature chose to include language that designated custody as the trigger to that liability.”

Jennifer Rapp, the public information officer for the attorney general’s office, said the Legislature should revisit the 2006 law in light of the latest court decision. “It makes little sense to have public agencies fighting among themselves over who must pay indigent care when the cost ultimately is borne by taxpayers one way or another,” Rapp said via email.

“Perhaps a more sensible system, at least when state law enforcement agencies are involved, would involve the established process for making claims against the state.”

Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

ERIE – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 11 a.m. on Saturday in Neosho County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Freightliner semi pulling two trailers and driven by Shane V. Segraves, 30, Altamont, was southbound on U.S. 59 four miles north of Erie.

The semi left the roadway, entered the right ditch and hit a bridge.

The truck’s two trailers came to rest blocking the highway.

Segraves was transported to Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center.

He was properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP.

HUTCHINSON— A Kansas man convicted for downloading hundreds of child pornography videos and who waived the preliminary hearing and entered a “no contest” plea was sentenced Friday to two years and eight months in prison.

Tad Darcy Russell, 36, Hutchinson, was convicted for sexual exploitation of a child.

Police say a detective investigated Russell for several months and testified Russell downloaded child porn videos from a “Peer to Peer” file-sharing program.

After a search warrant on his Hutchinson home, officers seized his computer and found videos involving kids as young as six and eight years of age.