Criminal Legal Reform

In a historic move the ACLU of Kansas hopes will normalize the use of executive clemency, Governor Laura Kelly today released three affiliate clients from various state prisons via commutation.

“I think this is a textbook example of what is supposed to happen,” Kansas ACLU Executive Director Micah Kubic told KCUR. “When communities come out to say, ‘This is not what we want our city, our town, our state, our country to look like,’ folks in power respond to that.”

A former maximum-security prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, is now a critical hub in the Trump administration’s immigration detention machine, transforming in just a few months from a facility shuttered for its inhospitable conditions to a privately run jail holding hundreds of immigrants.

The Kansas state legislature passed the HALO Act earlier this year during legislative session and it became state law, effective in July. On August 18, 2026 we submitted opposition testimony to Olathe’s proposed city ordinance, New Section Six – Sec. 9.08.035, which unnecessarily incorporates the problematic state law into the city’s code. Unfortunately, Leavenworth passed this ordinance.

The Kansas state legislature passed the HALO Act earlier this year during legislative session and it became state law, effective in July. On September 22, 2026 we submitted opposition testimony to Leavenworth’s proposed city ordinance, No. 8239, Sec. 3.5.13.5.1, which unnecessarily incorporates the problematic state law into the city’s code. Unfortunately, Leavenworth passed this ordinance.

The Kansas state legislature passed the HALO Act earlier this year during legislative session and it became state law, effective in July. On August 17, 2026, we submitted opposition testimony to the proposed Overland Park city ordinance, POC-3529’s HALO provision, which unnecessarily incorporates the problematic state law into the city’s code.

This bill undermines judicial discretion and disproportionately harms low-income Kansans by mandating arrest and imposing stricter pretrial conditions based solely on charge level rather than individualized risk. These measures will only serve to increase incarceration rates and deepen systemic inequities. This bill significantly limits judicial discretion by prohibiting courts from issuing summonses in felony cases, regardless of individual circumstances. Removing this discretion undermines a core principle of our justice system: decisions should be based on individuals, not just the charges against them. For individuals living paycheck to paycheck, even short periods of pretrial detention can result in job loss, eviction, disruptions to childcare, and financial instability. Wealthier defendants are better positioned to absorb these mandated disruptions or post secured bond; poorer defendants are not.