Topeka ? Gov. Mark Parkinson on Friday announced that his office was taking steps to make sure that Kansas prison inmates do not have access to citizens’ personal information.

“When I first heard about a program, that had begun in the 1980s and involved prisoners in programs where they may have access to citizens’ private information, I was immediately concerned,” Parkinson said.

“I directed my staff to begin working with the state agencies involved to fix these programs as soon as possible,” he said.

He said new safeguards are being implemented to prevent inmate access to citizens’ information, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers.

Inmates in Kansas have been doing data entry for the state, cities, counties and non-profit groups since 1985.