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News Releases

by David Thompson — last modified Oct 14, 2024 (09:24 AM)

News releases about the Department of Corrections

Kansas Department of Corrections’ 2019 employee awards announced

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Governor Laura Kelly and Acting Corrections Secretary Jeff Zmuda announced the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) 2019 Employees and Volunteer of the Year during a ceremony Tuesday at the State Capitol.

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Staffing changes occurring at Kansas Department of Corrections

banner  A new unit, focused on research and behavior analytics, will be one of the key features of several staffing changes at the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) effective June 16.

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Overcrowding issues to continue at state correctional facilities
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The State Finance Council voted today to deny funding for space and programming for overcrowded female prisoners and full funding for outsourcing male beds throughout the Kansas prison system.

UPDATED: Inmate who walked away from Wichita Work Release Facility apprehended in Wichita

thumnail Kansas Department of Corrections agents, working in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Service, apprehended minimum-custody inmate George Young at a motel on North Broadway Street in Wichita at approximately 11 a.m., today.
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Hutchinson Correctional Facility Assists with Local Flood Efforts
banner Inmates volunteer to help Reno County area fill 6,000 sandbags due to flood threats
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Governor announces new secretary of corrections

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Governor Laura Kelly today announced her selection of Jefferey Zmuda as the next secretary of corrections. Zmuda is currently the deputy director of the Idaho Department of Correction.
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No injuries during disturbance at juvenile

Biography - Secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections

Jeff Zmuda, Secretary of Corrections
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Biography – Secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections
by cherylca — last modified Jun 23, 2020 03:53 PM
Jeff Zmuda, Secretary of Corrections

Secretary Jeff Zmuda was appointed by Governor Laura Kelly to lead the Kansas Department of Corrections in 2019. He was sworn in on February 5, 2020.

Prior to joining Governor Kelly’s cabinet, Jeff spent nearly 32 years in service to the Idaho Department of Corrections. More than half of that time was spent in leadership roles, as both the organization’s deputy director and chief of prisons. In these roles he coordinated with stakeholders across the state and played a key role in the operations for nine state-run facilities, including public safety initiatives, security protocols and practices, mental health care and treatment, education services and reentry programs. Jeff also has extensive experience addressing personnel and operations challenges across a correctional system.

Jeff is a firm believer that while offenders are serving their time in prison, the department and staff should be working hard to equip offenders with the resources and skills they need to be successful upon their reentry to their community. With that in mind, he has made improving reentry services and workforce readiness among inmates one of his top priorities.

Jeff and his wife Cheryl have been married for 40 years. They have three grown sons, David, Daniel and Andrew.

The State of Kansas has not conducted an execution since 1965.

  • The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty laws in 40 states, including Kansas, in 1972. After several previous attempts, the 1994 Legislature enacted a death penalty law, which Governor Joan Finney allowed to become law without her signature. The statute took effect on July 1, 1994.
  • Kansas statute established the death penalty by lethal injection as a sentencing option for offenders 18 years of age and older who are convicted of capital murder (K.S.A. 21-3439).
  • A number of inmates have been convicted of capital murder but sentenced to life in prison (with a minimum term of 25 years to parole eligibility) instead of death.
  • Kansas does not have a separate “death row.” Inmates sentenced to death are typically housed in El Dorado Correctional Facility (EDCF), along with other inmates who are in administrative segregation.
  • Inmate Scott Cheever was sentenced to death for the murder of Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels. Inmate Cheever is held in the Administrative Segregation Unit at Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF) due to the number of friends and family of Sheriff Samuels who are employed at EDCF.
  • In the event that a female inmate is sentenced to death, she will be held at the Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF), the only facility for female inmates in Kansas.
  • Inmates managed at EDCF or TCF will be transferred to the Lansing Correctional Facility within a week of the scheduled date of the execution.
  • The average annual cost of incarceration at the El Dorado Correctional Facility for Fiscal Year 2016 was $25,596.
KANSAS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT INMATES (as of November 2016)
Name KDOC# Race Date of Birth Date Capital Sentence Imposed County of Conviction
Kyle Trevor Flack 84374 White Jun 18, 1985 May 18, 2016 Franklin

Apprehended: Cal Henry Green III

Kansas Department of Corrections agents, working in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, apprehended inmate Cal Henry Green III in Independence, Mo., at approximately 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Green, a minimum-security inmate, left Lansing Correctional Facility on Monday without authorization.

The arrest occurred without incident, and Green is currently being held in the Jackson County, Mo., jail.

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A Speakers Bureau is being established to enhance public education regarding what we do in Kansas Corrections. As you are probably aware, many people have beliefs or ideas about what happens in corrections, both in the field and in facilities. In fact, very few outside of those of us employed within the correctional field and our families, really understand how risk reduction and containment strategies are chosen and used and for whom. You have been selected or suggested as a person who can speak to your area of work within the Department and how it is a part of the strategy to make a positive difference in making Kansas a safer place to live and work.

The goals of this effort are broad based and important. We need to reach out at all levels of our communities and educational institutions to educate and to recruit. Our efforts should help more taxpayers better understand what we do and why we do it, as well as how our efforts on their behalf impact them every day, every hour. The plan is to provide a list of speakers, skilled in their work and selected by their leaders and peers, to educational institutions from high schools to colleges and universities. At some point, we may also provide such contact information to community organizations, though many of you and your leaders already are a part of or have spoken to community organizations. Thank you if you are one of those persons who has already done so!

This is an important task: If you feel you are uncomfortable or unable to speak to a group contacting you, please ask your supervisor to get someone else equally skilled and willing to share similar information regarding what was originally requested. Our hope is that we are open to questions and seeking answers from the appropriate source (check with the Central Office Communications Office if you are unsure). The Department of Corrections publishes an annual report, and we do reports on population daily that are available to you as well.

The key to this task is your rapport with the group you speak to about why and how you and your peers work hard to reduce risk to Kansans in many ways, all designed using evidence-based research and clearly targeting the offender based on their assessed risks and needs to provide the correct dosage and response. When we get a broad array of speakers and subjects needing to be covered, we will share the information with you and with the educational institutions. If you feel other agencies or organizations need to be included, or additional subjects need to be added, please let the Central Office Communications Office know. Our hope is this may educate and entice more persons to working or volunteering to join us in the good work being done. Thanks so much for being willing to provide time and effort to carry on the mission of the Kansas Department of Corrections.

For more information, please call Hope.Burns@ks.gov or (785) 296-3310