By STEPHEN KORANDA

A Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman said Thursday evening that officers at the El Dorado Correctional Facility worked during the day to get a group of inmates to return to their cells.

Todd Fertig said in an email that a group of inmates refused to return to their cells Thursday morning.

Fertig said the situation was resolved around 5 p.m. Thursday, after backup personnel were called from other facilities.

“KDOC responded by ensuring the security of the facility and methodically returning the offenders to their cell houses, which occurred without any use of force by staff,” Fertig said.

There were no injuries and the department will conduct a review of the event, he said.

Robert Choromanski, with the Kansas Organization of State Employees, said earlier Thursday that members of the union told him the facility is on lockdown.

“It started out basically with the inmates taking over the gym,” he said. “The prison at El Dorado had to activate the special response team, basically like a SWAT, tactical team.”

Choromanski is concerned staffing shortages at the maximum-security facility could have played a part in the situation. The Wichita Eagle recently reported that prison guards at the El Dorado facility would begin working 12-hour shifts because of a lack of workers.

“The inmates can see that there are staffing shortages,” he said. “When they can see that the correctional staff is not prepared in numbers to maintain control of the facility, they are going to take advantage of the situation.”

Choromanski said there are more than 100 job vacancies at the El Dorado prison, which has an inmate capacity of 1,511. El Dorado is about 35 miles northeast of Wichita.

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for KPR a partner in the Kansas News Service.

 

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5:50 p.m.

The Kansas Department of Corrections says that an incident at a maximum-security prison has been resolved and inmates are back in their cells.

Department spokesman Todd Fertig said in a statement Thursday that no injuries to staff or prisoners occurred and that inmates did not obtain access to any weapons.

Fertig confirmed that staff from other prisons were called to help deal with the incident but said that’s normal procedure. He said inmates were returned to their cells with no use of force.

The department had reported that inmates were refusing to return to their cells but Fertig said he did not have additional details.

An official with the union representing corrections workers had said inmates controlled parts of the prison that included the gym, the yard and the kitchen.

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4:35 p.m.

The leader of a union that represents Kansas corrections workers says he’s receiving reports that inmates still control parts of a maximum-security prison in southern Kansas.

Robert Choromanski is executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees. He said in an email Thursday afternoon that a prison worker said areas under inmate control at the El Dorado prison include the gym, the yard and the kitchen.

The Department of Corrections said some inmates are refusing to return to their cells but that the prison has been secured. Department spokesman Todd Fertig says there have been no reports of violence or injuries. He says he’s awaiting more details about the incident.

The El Dorado Correctional Facility is the state’s second largest prison. It’s about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Wichita.

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BUTLER COUNTY- Department of Corrections officials are downplaying reports of an incident
at the maximum security El Dorado Correctional Facility.

In an email, Kansas Department of Corrections spokesperson Tod Fertig reported, “On Thursday morning, a group of offenders at El Dorado Correctional Facility refused to return to their assigned cell houses.

No incidents of violence have occurred, and there have been no injuries to offenders or staff. The facility is secure, and measures to return the offenders to the cell houses are ongoing. KDOC will then conduct a review of the incidents.

Again, there have been no injuries and no acts of violence, and the facility is secure.”

The union representing prison workers says it has received reports from corrections officers that the prison has been on lockdown.

The Kansas Organization of State Employees has said in the past that the prison is understaffed and its officers are being required to work 12-hour shifts.

Among well knows inmates at the El Dorado Correctional Facility are serial killer Dennis Rader know as BTK, and Johnathan and Reginal Carr, convicted of murder and numerous other crimes, according to the KDOC.