KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Following a months-long KSHB 41 I-Team Investigation, records we obtained show that over an almost four-year period, 427 Kansas City, Missouri, Municipal Court prisoners have been released back into the community early.
Another 84 prisoners were released early against the judge's orders, which often means a judge ruled that person "a danger to him or herself or others."
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"I want to get them released, but they're not stable yet to be released because they are still hearing voices, they are still very aggressive," Municipal Court Judge Martina Peterson said.
We sat down with Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas to ask him why this is happening.
"So, we share the viewpoint with the public that it’s wholly unacceptable. We try our level best to make sure that those who need to be incarcerated, who have been adjudicated by a judge as a threat to themselves or a partner or the community, are incarcerated. The challenge comes down to the space that we have right now. We are renting from counties throughout Western Missouri," Lucas said.
Kansas City, Missouri, currently doesn't have a city jail (as opposed to the Jackson County Detention Center, which is part of the circuit court). Instead, the city’s municipal court contracts with Johnson and Vernon Counties in Missouri to house prisoners.
There are clauses in those contracts that basically allow the counties to release or refuse individuals at their discretion.
Reading through reports, reasons listed include everything from prisoners fighting and being aggressive toward staff to most commonly making room for another inmate.
"Part of the reason you see these people come out is that each day, our staff is challenged with a list of priorities," Lucas said. "Who is the biggest threat? Who is the biggest challenge? And sometimes, shockingly, someone who has offended a number of different times may not be more of a threat than someone, let’s say, who was just domestically abusing someone in their home. And that’s the sort of tough decision we’ve been making while we have this limited space issue."
Among that list of people released early despite a lengthy criminal history and documented mental health challenges is 41-year-old Phillip Moore.
In addition to being convicted in Jackson County Circuit Court and doing time in the Missouri Department of Corrections in cases dating back to the early 2000s, he also repeatedly appeared in front of Kansas City, Missouri, Municipal Court judges in 34 cases, for everything from stealing to disorderly conduct to assault.
Municipal court judges would order over and over again for Moore to remain in custody, noting he was a danger to himself and others.
However, since Kansas City, Missouri, started contracting with outside agencies to house prisoners, Moore was released early twice from Johnson County, Missouri.
He was released once for being aggressive toward staff and once for refusing to shower.
Moore was also given an emergency release from Vernon County to create space for another inmate.
Records show in each of these early releases, he was accused of committing another offense within two days to two weeks of his release date.
In the midst of all of this, a municipal court judge repeatedly tried to get Moore evaluated by the Department of Mental Health and placed in the department's care.
However, that's another difference between Kansas City's Municipal Court and Circuit courts.
In Missouri, the law only allows judges at the Circuit Court level to order a mental evaluation and send someone to a state hospital, which police and judges agree is sometimes the best option for an individual.
"It is frustrating when you see someone in a crisis and you see their life going off track and they are committing crimes or they're doing things, and you see them on repeat," Sgt. Ashley McCunniff, with the KCPD Sup. Crisis Intervention Team said. "You're like, 'Man, if you would just get off the drugs, if you would just take your medicine, your life would be so different."'
The city filed a lawsuit on behalf of municipal court judges to try to allow them to have people evaluated and committed, if needed, to receive treatment. After a judge denied the request, it's now in the court of appeals. And if that's not successful, the city will look at other options.
"Ultimately, I think this is the sort of thing we take to the Supreme Court if they side with the status quo, which is not working for the people of Kansas City," Lucas said. "Then I think it’s an important time for us to look at state legislation that can allow our municipal court judges to have the tools to direct these people to receive mental health healthcare and receive evaluations."
While jails and detention centers can't force a prisoner to take medications, the state's Department of Mental Health can.
While judges and police agree that this type of specialized care can help, they also acknowledge that the new jail Kansas City, Missouri, is set to build will also help prevent people from being released early.
That new building isn't set to open until 2026.
Moore was recently taken into custody after allegedly punching two security guards in the face at a bus stop, knocking one man's tooth out. He’s now charged with a felony for assault. That charge landed him in Jackson County Circuit Court. A judge ordered a mental evaluation.
The evaluation revealed he "lacks the capacity to understand the proceedings or to assist in his own defense." Moore was ordered to be committed to the Department of Mental Health.
Unfortunately, as city officials acknowledged, Moore's isn't an isolated case
Looking over release numbers, we found roughly a dozen people who were released early, sometimes against a judge's orders. Those people ended up behind bars for another offense.
We reached out to Vernon and Johnson Counties for a response.
A captain at the Johnson County, Missouri, Sheriff's Department told KSHB 41, "We do not release prisoners early against a judge's orders. Instead, in some situations, particularly with inmates who have mental health challenges, are not compliant with necessary medication treatments, or have medical concerns, we may find them unfit for confinement and thus refuse their intake..."
The captain explained that those individuals are sent back to Kansas City, Missouri, where they might have no other housing options. The city's Administrator of Corrections makes the difficult decision to release them.
The mayor says he hopes Kansas City, Missouri, voters will support the ballot initiative providing money for the new jail on election day, April 8th.
Voters have a choice on whether to renew the city's public safety sales tax, which will help pay for a new municipal jail.
A "Yes" vote continues the quarter-cent sales tax for another 20 years.
The new jail would be located near Interstate 70 and U.S. 40 Highway, next to where Jackson County is building its new jail.
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