News & Commentary

LEAVENWORTH — Dangerous understaffing, pervasive drugs and a stockpile of weapons have transformed a private detention center in Kansas into a “hell hole” where violence is routine and inmates are still on lockdown after one was beaten to death this summer.

Kansas is the latest state to explore alterations to its mail policies in state prisons, pointing to the rise of drug use within facilities as justification for a move that has alarmed advocates.

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Mark McCormick is the former executive director of The Kansas African American Museum and a member of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission.

A federal judge approved a deal Wednesday that would see the state pay out roughly $1.9 million in legal fees to a group of attorneys, including the American Civil Liberties Union, stemming from a prolonged court fight over a controversial voting law favored by former Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

People locked up in the Leavenworth Detention Center in Kansas have been reaching out for help nearly every day.

TOPEKA — The Kansas Attorney General’s Office has agreed to pay the American Civil Liberties Union and other attorneys $1.9 million in fees and expenses for a five-year legal battle over an unconstitutional restriction on voter registrations.

The ACLU and federal public defenders are warning a private prison company may be trying to avoid President Biden's executive order that bans new contracts with most for-profit detention facilities.

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Sharon Brett is legal director at the ACLU of Kansas.

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. — A privately run maximum security federal prison in Kansas is dangerous and should be shut down when its contract expires at the end of this year, civil rights advocates and federal public defenders urged the White House in a letter.