Kansas agency, firm bolster lawmaker support for prison plan

Kansas corrections officials and the company picked to build a new state prison have bolstered support for their plan among top Republican legislators, making it more likely their project will get the final go-ahead. Three key Republican legislators said after a briefing this week that they're more comfortable with a state Department of Corrections plan to have the nation's largest private prison operator, CoreCivic Inc., build the new prison for 2,432 inmates in Lansing, in the Kansas City area.

Kansas plan for new prison draws criticism from lawmakers

Damon Hininger, the president and CEO of private prison company CoreCivic Inc., follows a Kansas legislative committee discussion of a state Department of Corrections plan to build a new prison, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The department plans to have CoreCivic build the prison and lease it to the state for 20 years.

Plan to double-bunk at new Kansas prison worries lawmakers

Kansas legislators are debating how much the decision to house more inmates two-to-a-cell has fueled unrest at state prisons in recent months, and some worry about Department of Corrections plans to open a new prison with a majority of its cells double-bunked. Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood told a legislative committee this week that the cells at the planned new prison in Lansing in the Kansas City area would be large enough to hold two inmates, including maximum-security prisoners.