Recent Kansas editorials

Kansas City Star, April 13

Cellphone footage of what one inmate correctly labeled the “mayhem” at Lansing Correctional Facility last week shows prisoners trashing the place while cursing their sitting-duck vulnerability to the global coronavirus pandemic.

“They aren’t giving us no health care for this coronavirus,” a prisoner says in a video that was posted on YouTube. “Y’all don’t want to give us no health care? This is what we do.”

“There were comments about that posted online, taken with contraband cellphones,” Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman Randall Bowman said in an interview, though the official cause of the disturbance is still under investigation.

We do know that the free-for-all broke out in the cell block adjacent to a new building, just completed, where COVID-19 patients are being treated. After it ended, that’s where those who had been living in the now uninhabitable Cell Block C, which was built in the 1860s, had to move.

As of Friday, 12 inmates and 16 employees in Lansing had tested positive for the virus, and seven more inmates were under observation.

The footage of Thursday’s melee is definitely going to get the inmates who were laughing and destroying property in a lot of trouble. But inmates and staff, too, in prisons around the country and beyond are in a lot of trouble anyway, as social distancing is nearly impossible in overcrowded jails. No matter what you’re in for, you may have just been given a death sentence.

“They’re as anxious as anybody else” is about the virus, Bowman said, but “because of the crimes they’ve inflicted on the rest of us, they can’t be with their families. Their anxiety is high.”

Higher than ours, probably, since unlike the rest of us, they can’t self-quarantine. The situation is so dire that some facilities, in California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Ohio, have released some prisoners already. Jails in Jackson County and Sedgwick County have, too.

This pandemic has both deepened our problems and made all of them - the many Americans who are still uninsured, for example, and the lack of sick leave that discourages workers from staying home when they’re not well - all the more obvious. It’s also reminded us that while a lot has been said in support of prison reform, very little has been done.

The American Civil Liberties Union is taking at least 10 states to court, trying to get them to release those inmates who are medically vulnerable, are in for low-level crimes or whose sentences are almost up anyway, and who have somewhere to go. The ACLU of Kansas on Thursday asked the state’s Supreme Court to immediately release prisoners who fall into one or more of those categories.

This is not a problem with a simple solution. One inmate already released in the St. Louis area had reportedly been in custody on child molestation charges. Because most domestic violence charges are relegated to city court in Kansas City, those found guilty of “only” a misdemeanor can still be violent. There’s also the problem of where inmates will go if they are released.

On Friday, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said the state is weighing what to do. “Inmates and staff are concerned about the level of care inmates have been receiving from the corrections medical provider, Corizon. I understand the frustrations. In fact, I share them.”

So do we, and Kansas officials are right to be looking at both how to improve care and who they might release.

In Missouri, where public defenders have pushed for similar consideration, Gov. Mike Parson has so far seemed disinterested in the implications of inaction. “People are incarcerated for a reason,” he said. They are, but under these extraordinary circumstances, justice demands a review of the specifics.

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Topeka Capital-Journal, April 11

Kansas leaders, the time has come.

Our state needs to switch to a mail-in election system, for primary and general elections.

That’s a sweeping statement, we understand. But the reasons are compelling and deserve to be heard and understood now, rather than later. If at all possible, the system should be changed this year, so voters are able to make their voices heard from the safety of their own homes.

The immediate context for this call is the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. It is simply unconscionable to put broad swaths of the public at risk on Election Day by requiring them to congregate at polling places.

We don’t know what the situation will be in August or November, but we do know one thing for sure: A vaccine won’t be ready. Without a vaccine, social movement will always carry some risk for a resurgence of the virus. We can’t allow the exercise of our democratic rights to create hot spots that could endanger many thousands.

But there’s another argument, beyond public health. Other states have switched to conducting all elections by mail. According to the National Council on State Legislatures, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington have made the switch, with other states allowing for counties to opt in or during special circumstances.

The states that have taken the plunge have seen increased participation, especially in off-year elections. They have seen declines in costs, as the states are no longer responsible for operating an extensive network of polling sites and workers. And they have seen increased voter satisfaction, as those casting ballots are able to take time and research the candidates.

Not everyone likes mail-in ballots, unfortunately.

The president has made his objections known, as have some national Republicans, suggesting that greater turnout would be subject to fraud or hurt their party. Evidence from the states mentioned above show that fraud hasn’t been a problem, however.

Mail-in ballots ultimately aren’t about the parties. They’re about the voters. They’re about keeping the public safe while including more voters in the process. The case for them is clear and compelling.

In the best-case scenario, the federal government will make the call soon and allow citizens across the nation to vote this way. If that doesn’t happen, Kansas legislators should act.