By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ new prisons chief is suggesting to legislators that the state corrections system is in crisis, and his briefings are leading lawmakers in both parties to conclude that they haven’t previously had a full picture of inmate riots and other problems.

Interim Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz also said Wednesday that an increased use of “double-bunking,” or housing two inmates to a cell, was a factor in riots in 2017 and 2018. Department of Corrections officials had previously dismissed a potential link.

Werholtz, who served as corrections secretary from December 2002 through 2010, returned to the job earlier this month when Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly took office. Under Republican Govs. Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer, the department acknowledged staffing problems but then-Secretary Joe Norwood said serious disturbances were unconnected and the inmate population generally was under control.

The new interim secretary took questions Wednesday from the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, two days after a grim briefing of the problems facing the department. Werholtz criticized double-bunking and later said that practice and overly aggressive transfers of inmatesamong prisons helped fuel riots at several prisons in 2017 and 2018.

And while the department under Norwood avoided the term, Werholtz did not shrink from using “riots” to describe the disturbances. The department this week provided legislators with photos of damaged prison buildings from riots in El Dorado in June 2017 and July 2018 , Norton in September 2017 and Larned in November 2018 .

Rep. Leo Delperdang, a Wichita Republican, said he was “truly disgusted” by “what we did not hear” previously. House committee Chairman Russ Jennings, a Lakin Republican, said its members felt “shock” after Werholtz’s briefings.

“I think we’re all thankful that we now have a much clearer picture of what’s really going on,” Jennings said later. “The whole story wasn’t told.”

Kelly’s proposed budget for the budget year that begins in July includes an additional $3 million to help prisons fill vacant positions. But the department is still expecting to keep 9 percent of its 3,500 positions open. The department reported that the overtime it paid ballooned from $1.7 million during its 2013 budget year to $8.2 million five years later.

“It had become common practice to do what we called collapsing posts,” Werholtz said Wednesday, relaying what he and other officials heard from staff. “It’s my perception at this point that all of the facilities have been collapsing a lot of posts for a long time.”

Werholtz said transfers of inmates had created concentrations of young, male offenders in some locations to the point where “we may have created a volatile mix unintentionally.” The department had previously acknowledged that some inmates were upset with being moved.

The department will be looking at mixing more of the younger inmates with older ones, Werholtz said, but must consider how quickly it can make such transfers.

As for double-bunking, Werholtz said increasing the concentration of inmates in a prison can create management problems. The department previously had said the practice was not a problem and the most cost-effective way to house a growing inmate population.

Werholtz said the prison system now has less flexibility to reverse double-bunking because the inmate population has continued to grow. As of Tuesday, the department had 10,071 inmates in its custody — 100 more than the system’s housing capacity, even with double-bunking.

“It was refreshing to hear what was actually going on — but also actually terrifying,” said Rep. Annie Kuether, a Topeka Democrat.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on theft and drug allegations.

Just after 10a.m. on Saturday Jan. 19, police responded to the 100 block of north Spruce in Wichita to investigate a stolen vehicle, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Upon arrival, officers located the stolen 2009 Gray Buick Lacrosse occupied by 28-year-old Kyle Guthrie and 25-year-old Chance Brooks. Police arrested them

Guthrie was booked on requested charges of criminal deprivation of property, unlawful possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.   Brooks was booked on requested charges of unlawful possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas collected $49 million less in taxes than expected in January, giving Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and the Republican-controlled Legislature a dose of bad news Friday at the start of debates over education funding and tax relief.

Kelly’s top revenue official and a GOP legislative leader were quick to say a single month of disappointing tax collections is not yet a trend. But it broke a streak of 19 consecutive months of better-than-anticipated collections — the longest since at least July 1966 — leading Kelly to declare extra funds for public schools were “in the bank” as Republicans promoted income tax relief.

Kelly already has urged GOP legislators to wait at least a year to consider tax legislation and said Friday that the state must be cautious. But House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a conservative Wichita Republican, said the lower-than-expected tax collections raise questions about Kelly’s budget proposals.

The Department of Revenue reported that Kansas collected $646 million in taxes last month, when its fiscal forecast predicted more than $695 million, for a 7.1 percent shortfall. The state’s tax collections for the current budget year, which began in July 2018, had been running slightly ahead of expectations, but at $4 billion, are now $36 million or 0.9 percent less than forecast.

“Unfortunately, Kansas is still in a perfect storm of uncertainty and volatility,” said interim Revenue Secretary Mark Beshears.

The department did not have an explanation for the monthly shortfall beyond economic volatility. The biggest gap was in personal income tax collections. They were $352 million — $48 million less than expected for the month and nearly $99 million below collections in January 2018.

The department’s report came with the Senate planning to debate a tax bill next week. It is designed to prevent Kansas residents and businesses from paying more in income taxesto the state because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017.

It would reduce state revenues — and save taxpayers — $192 million during the next budget year, which begins July 1.

Kelly won the governor’s race by running against former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s fiscal policies. Brownback championed big state income tax cuts in 2012 and 2013, only to see lawmakers largely reversed his cuts in 2017 because of persistent budget woes.

“We must be cautious, conservative and fiscally responsible to ensure our state’s recovery continues,” Kelly said in a statement. “We cannot go backward.”

Kelly was not backing off her plan to phase in a $364 million increase in spending on public schools over four years in hopes of settling an education funding lawsuit filed in 2010.

Projections from legislative researchers this week already showed that the state could not provide the GOP’s promised tax relief and Kelly’s proposed education funding increase without creating at least a small budget shortfall before July 2022. Continued monthly shortfalls would make the budget gap larger and possibly cause it to appear sooner.

Top Republicans argue that passing a tax relief bill is a matter of fairness and that doing nothing is raising taxes, with Hawkins saying Friday, “It’s really the people’s money.”

“It would be very good for her to use caution,” Hawkins said of Kelly. “Maybe she needs to go back and look at her budget a little bit.”