Talk of closing the Winfield Correctional Facility has resurfaced this week as state agencies brace for what is expected to be a very tight budget year at the state level.
Last year, Roger Werholtz, secretary for the Kansas Dept. of Corrections, made it clear closing Winfield was an option if the correction dept.’s budget continued to tighten. Tuesday he told the Senate Ways and Means Committee that closing Winfield or eliminating parolee supervision were the only two options remaining if proposed budget cuts become reality.
"One (option) would be to substantially reduce the number of prison beds that we have," Werholtz said Wednesday. "We would do that by closing Winfield. It is the facility that has the least flexible beds. It’s all minimum security."
In past discussions with NewsCow, city officials have expressed their concerns for the Winfield Correctional Facility because it was minimum security. That’s because inmates here can be moved to facilities with higher supervision levels ? for instance a medium security facility.
But inmates in higher security facilities can not suddenly be relocated to a minimum security prison.
In an interview with KAKE, Winfield mayor Phil Jarvis said local lawmakers have indicated they believe the prison will remain open. Aside from those employed at the prison, the facility also provides inmate laborers that help various local governments reduce their operating costs.
Note: Some information from this report was provided by KAKE news and the Lawrence Journal World.
