Progressive Caucus Co Chair Frank Smith writes......
Dear Emporia Gazette Editor,

Representative Forrest Knox pushed to get a low-paying private prison in Yates Center for years. It appears that his real motive was to help Florida-based GEO Group get a law repealed that prohibits these prisons from building once again in Kansas. Prior horrific experience had caused the legislature to impose a ban on new for-profit construction long ago.

A deal was finally struck. Instead of the repeal, Yates Center would get a rehab facility meant to treat parole violators. Though it was hardly the ideal location, given that it would be located so far from adequate professional resources, it meant that Woodson County might get an institution that was actually viable, because state employees would receive living wages and decent benefits.

Knox persists in trying to overturn the ban, however. Voters need to ask about his true motivation.

These for-profit prisons have 30 times the escape rates as do public prisons. To make a profit, they would have to import hundreds of murderers, rapists and other dangerous criminals from outside Kansas. The escape rate from these transports is even worse. They have a 52% employee turnover rate, per year.

Many denominations have called for a moratorium on building new for-profits or for their outright abolition. These include Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, United Church of Christ and Presbyterian. Mennonites and Quakers (Friends) have long been in the vanguard of this struggle against prisoners for profit.

We don't need to cater to distant special interests here in Kansas. We don't need to support needless corporate welfare when our roads and schools are crumbling.

Frank Smith
390 S.E. 110 Ave.
Bluff City, KS 67018-7630