25 years ago: Local reaction mixed on new prison plan

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for March 12, 1988:

A $100 million plan unveiled this week by Corrections Secretary Roger Endell to ease overcrowding in the state’s prison system was getting mixed reactions from Lawrence officials. Douglas County District Judge Michael Malone and Dist. Atty. Jim Flory said they welcomed the plan, but Malone called for greater emphasis on rehabilitation programs. Local state legislators had reservations about the plan, which would add 2,516 beds to the system by constructing two new prisons, expanding the Ellsworth Correctional Facility, converting Norton State Hospital into a prison site, and building a work-oriented industrial complex in Hutchinson. Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Lawrence, said that other factors needed to be stressed, such as restructuring sentencing laws and emphasizing community corrections. “There are a lot of things we can do short of (spending) millions of dollars for new prisons,” she said. Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence, said that while the state was facing a prison crisis, she hoped money for new prisons wouldn’t cut too deeply into other state programs, such as education.