TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Top Republican legislators on Wednesday blocked nearly $10 million that Kansas corrections officials argue they need to deal with prison overcrowding and said lawmakers might reject Democratic Gov. Laura Kellys choice to be the prison systems next leader.
The actions by Republican legislative leaders decrease the number of male inmates that the Department of Corrections can transfer for now to private prisons out of state and halt the agencys plans to move female inmates into empty space at a juvenile detention center in Topeka.
Top Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature did agree to release about $18 million, including money for pay raises for corrections officers. They said theyre still addressing the troubled prison systems most pressing problems, with future discussions of the other spending still possible.
