February 2003 

Kansas Sentencing Commission: Report to the 2003 Kansas Legislature

Pursuant to K.S.A. 74-9101(b) (15), the Kansas Sentencing Commission is directed to identify and analyze the impact of specific options to reduce prison population, when the prison population projections indicate that the states prison population will exceed capacity within two years. The FY 2003 Prison Population Projections released by the Sentencing Commission in September 2002, forecast the states prison population to reach 9,044 by June 30, 2003, with a slight decline in the prison population to 9,003 indicated for FY 2004. However, from FY 2005 through FY 2012, the states prison population demonstrates a continual and consistent growth from 9,112 to 10,572 inmates (Attachment A). This projected growth pattern means the state will have 1,183 more inmates housed in state correctional facilities at the end of FY 2012 than at the end of FY 2002, if current policies remain unchanged.

Prison population growth is directly correlated with two primary variables admissions (who enters prison) and lengths of stay (how long a prison bed is occupied). Although there are numerous additional variables that have some indirect impact, such as good time earnings, jail time credits, revocation rates, these variables will impact either admissions or the length of stay (LOS). In analyzing areas of growth in the prison population in relation to either admissions or lengths of stay, specific trends can be identified. The Nondrug Grid demonstrates either a decline in the number of offenders admitted to prison or a lower average sentence imposed for every severity level except Severity Level 6. However, when the Drug Grid is examined the same pattern is not present. All four severity levels indicate a growth in admissions and/or lengths of sentence imposed over the past five years (Attachment B). The Drug Grid new commitments represented about 31% of the total new commitments to prison in FY 2002. The greatest impact on prison population growth is present when there is growth in both admissions and length of stay as indicated on Drug Level 4, which represents the lowest level of the Drug Grid and contains sentences for drug possession only. Although Drug Severity Level 4 contains a number of non-prison and border box cells, the number of condition violators admitted to prison has had a significant impact on prison population.