WICHITA, Kansas -- The Wichita Police Department and the union representing Kansas parole officers are speaking out about a system they say has no resources and no teeth. They blame prison overcrowding for making the Kansas Department of Corrections reluctant to revoke parole.
"The drug use, for example, is rampant," said Fred Debes, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #64. "Approximately 90 - 100 percent of all drug tests I did on my caseload were found positive for illegal drugs. The offenders know they get chances over and over and over again."
Deputy Chief Tom Stolz of the Wichita Police Department agrees.
"In the old days, if you came back with a dirty UA [urinalysis], that was, in and of itself, enough to revoke parole," said Stolz.
But now, he says parolees are left in the community, and too many go on to commit bigger crimes.
In Salina last year, Antonio Brown had been out of prison eight months, when he was charged with beating his girlfriend's young son to death.
In Wichita, Kishen Woods had finished his parole before he allegedly gunned down his wife in front of her children. Both men had parole violations that could have sent them back to prison long before the murders.
"What I tell people is, lock your doors and say your prayers," said Debes. As a state parole officer for 25 years, he believes parolees are more dangerous these days, and he fears for the public's safety.
"We had over 100 people in 2011 caught with firearms," said Debes.
The Kansas Department of Corrections confirms that fewer parolees are being sent back to prison, about 90 a month last year, compared to highs of 200 a month in 2004. That's when a directive was issued by Senator Sam Brownback.
"Actually then-Senator Brownback issued a challenge to our Secretary and said cut revocations in half," said Sally Frey, Director of the Southern Parole Region.
They've been successful at that, she says, by helping parolees treat the root cause of their crime, like drug abuse. Locking them up is not a long-term solution.
"Approximately 97 percent of everybody in prison comes home. When you think about that, because we think, 'Oh good, they're in prison. They're not going to hurt us or harm us anymore,' but they're coming back," said Frey.
But help for parolees is dwindling. Budget cuts have eliminated many programs that treat drug abuse and mental illness, and the only halfway houses left in Kansas no longer take state parolees.
"Sometimes we're sending folks back to houses where we know it's drug infested or a neighborhood where drugs are available, but it's that or the homeless shelter," said Frey.
It's a risky situation that Wichita police believe means more work for them.
"In most cases, people steal to feed a drug habit," said Stolz. "It's frustrating when we see dirty UAs [urinalysis] or even more frustrating when we catch a burglar out on parole for burglary, and we can't get him revoked on that."
But the parole office insists anyone caught with a weapon or committing a new crime will be locked up, no matter how full the prisons are.
"I don't personally feel the pressure because I know that our Secretary [of Corrections] has said if they are a risk to public safety, they need to go back to the facility," said Frey.
Governor Brownback has now proposed restoring over $2 million in funding to the KDOC over two years. Parole officers hope that money will replace some of the programs cut, but others believe what parolees are really missing is accountability.
