KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Following a KSHB 41 I-Team story that aired in late March on municipal court prisoners being released from jail early, we were contacted by a Kansas City, Missouri, mother.
She told us her daughter is one of those individuals being released early, time and time again. Because of that, she’s hoping Kansas City will renew a tax for a new jail.
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There is no jail in Kansas City, only the Jackson County Detention Center. The detention center houses prisoners from the county's circuit court, those who are accused of more serious crimes.
Municipal court offenders typically face minor offenses. However, such violations still include assaults and domestic violence.
To house its inmates, Kansas City has been contracting with Vernon and Johnson counties in Missouri.
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Contracts KSHB 41 obtained show those counties have the right to refuse or release Kansas City prisoners back to KC, where they are then released back into the public.
Records we requested revealed 427 Kansas City municipal prisoners have been released early, in addition to 84 more who have been released against judges' orders. In some cases, that includes people deemed a threat to themselves or others.
One KCMO woman said she is familiar with the process as her 46-year-old daughter recently landed back in jail.
"She called me from the jail and said, 'I’m in jail.' And I said, 'Good,'" the woman recalled. "She goes, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'I’m glad you’re in jail because I know where you’re at, you're safe, and you’re not doing meth and fentanyl.'"
This mother told us that between drugs, alcohol and untreated bipolar disorder, her daughter has become increasingly violent over the past two years, which is why she asked us to conceal her identity.
"I’m afraid of retribution by my daughter," she said.
The mother pointed to an earlier incident this year when her daughter allegedly threw a 25-pound rock through a plate glass window.
She said her daughter’s been homeless since 2020, and when she’s not living on the streets or in homeless camps, she breaks into vacant homes and squats there, sometimes causing property damage in the process.
"She was arrested last year eight times, and all she got out of that was one day served," the mother said. "All those charges were dropped, and it was a plea deal with the city."
We looked up the daughter’s charges, and sure enough, we found multiple offenses ranging from damaging property to trespassing to disorderly conduct. Despite this, court records show she was released after spending just one day in the Johnson County, Missouri, Detention Center.
That was at the end of 2024.
Since then, she’s been charged with multiple offenses, including destruction of property and resisting arrest.
But again, after spending only 16 days in jail, she was released on March 24, only to be picked up for another offense on April 2.
"Part of the reason you see these people come out is that each day, our staff is challenged with a list of priorities," KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas previously explained. "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."
But it's space the mother we interviewed thinks could give her daughter something she desperately needs — time.
After years of trying to get her daughter mental health help and get her into rehab, this mom hopes time off the streets and away from drugs will enable her daughter to get clean. Then, she can begin tackling her mental health issues.
Now, the mother is pleading with Kansas City residents to pass a tax renewal to fund a new city jail.
"Please, if you have any concerns about our well-being in the city, we need a jail," she reiterated.
Of course, not everyone agrees that’s a solution to mental health issues and crime in the city.
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Kansas City Councilman Johnathan Duncan recently mentioned our story in a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star, where he argued against a new jail. He claimed it comes at a high cost that could be better spent on preventative measures.
"So if we’re actually going to assess our jail need, we should look at a community resource center that would provide individuals who are facing substance abuse disorder or mental health opportunities to heal in an environment that’s more conducive than a jail," Duncan explained.
But the mother we spoke to disagreed, arguing that sometimes jail is the best option for both the person who’s committed the crimes and the entire community.
Meanwhile, as we’ve previously reported, the lack of a Kansas City municipal jail is only part of the problem. As our report revealed, municipal court judges cannot send people to the Missouri Department of Mental Health (DMH) the way judges can at the circuit court level in the state.
Kansas City has currently filed a lawsuit seeking to allow judges at the municipal level to have the power to commit people to the Missouri DMH. That lawsuit is awaiting a decision in the Court of Appeals.
Mayor Lucas previously told KSHB 41 the city is prepared to take the case to the Missouri Supreme Court to support judges by giving them the tools they need.
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