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| Correctional facility set for April 1 closing |
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| News - Osawatomie | |||
| Written by Abram Book | |||
| Wednesday, 17 December 2008 09:00 | |||
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The Osawatomie Correctional Facility will close April 1, 2009, according to an e-mail received by city officials from a correctional facility employee. Between 60 and 100 jobs could potentially be at stake if the facility closes. The e-mail also stated Kansas Department of Corrections plans to take the necessary steps to close the facility before the Legislature can meet in January to consider the governor’s budget proposal. Employees of the Osawatomie facility have been promised jobs at the Lansing facility, according to an Osawatomie city council member who asked not to be identified by name. “It is my understanding that workers here have been told they have jobs in Lansing starting next year,” the council member said. If KDOC closes the facility, many city officials believe it would be a blow to the economic development of Osawatomie and even to some of the surrounding areas. Prisoners at the Osawatomie facility provide free labor at Hillsdale Lake, as well as at the Kansas School for the Deaf and other areas and facilities throughout Miami Co. “It would be a blow not only to Osawatomie, but also to the surrounding area,” city council member Ted Hunter said at an Economic Development Committee meeting Dec. 10. If the Legislature has a chance to vote on the proposed facility cut as stipulated in the governor’s budget proposal in January, it may be able to keep the facility open, in which case any transferred prisoners or jobs could be transferred back to the Osawatomie facility, according to the e-mail. State Rep. Bill Feuerborn could not be reached for comment before press time. Representatives of the State Department of Corrections also could not be reached before press time. The council member was concerned about how families could be potentially affected by job transfers to Lansing. “One man I spoke with who works at the facility said he is planning to commute for the first few months until he can move his family to Lansing,” the council member said. “We’re going to lose a lot of families over this.” Hunter, who cited an ongoing concern about other areas in the county that could be affected by the facility closing, said organizations that have benefitted from free labor would have to hire those jobs done.
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Comments (2)
a guest: ...
It would be nice if a council members wants to make a comment, they would say who they are and not be a coward. If you are in the public eye act like it or get out of politics and stay home.
1
December 18, 2008
a guest: ...
THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO MANY JOBS AND PEOPLE WOULD BE AFFTECTED NOT ONLY THE EMPLOYEES BUT THE INMATES WHO ARE IN THE PROGRAM THERE. THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE IN THE STATE THAT THIS IS DONE. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THOSE IN THIS PROGRAM SINCE THEY ARE NOT TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GENERAL POPULATION OF THE PRISON SYSTEM?
THE FREE LABOR THAT BENEFITS THE COUNTY WOULD BE A GREAT LOSS ALSO THE LABOR DONE AT THE HOSPITAL. THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTY NEEDS TO TELL THEY STATE REPS TO SAY NO TO THIS. 2
December 28, 2008
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