KANSAS CITY, Mo. — We hear leaders talking about finding solutions to crime quite often in Kansas City, but a new group will take a different approach with alternatives to incarceration.
For some people, jail or prison is all they know.
"There's only two ways to get your life back — a pardon or expungment. I got both which is awkward," said Johnny Waller, program manager at UMKC School of Law's Clear My Record project.
Waller was in and out of jail 30 times, spending much of his youth behind bars.
"By the time I was 16, I joined a gang ... got shot in my head," he said. "I was involved in a shooting at a mall, got incarcerated for that. I never went to high school."
What puts someone life on such a path from the age of 12?
"I slept in car washes and church doors at a young age," he said. "At some point, I got tired of being poor. … My dad smoked crack and my mom left."
Waller served several years in prison for drug possession. When he was free, he applied for 175 jobs.
"Got out, tried to work, couldn't get a job," he said. "It was so bad I asked to go back to prison."
That's part of what KC's new commission on alternatives to incarceration is trying to prevent.
One of the co-sponsors, Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, knows all about recidivism.
"I'm the only person in city government who's ever built a jail or operated a jail," said Shields, who represents the 4th District At-Large.
Shields previously served as Jackson County Executive.
"The truth of a jail is no matter how big of a jail you build, if you don't have mechanisms for alternatives for keeping people in that jail, it will be overcrowded the day it opens," she said.
People stay in jail for a number of reasons.
"With Jackson County court, 95% of people are pre-trial and so they haven't been convicted of anything and they might stay in jail a year, year and a half, two years, awaiting trial," Shields said.
The funding for building a city jail wasn’t included in the budget for next year because an advocacy group, Decarcerate KC, pushed against it, according to Shields. But another ordinance recently came up that would approve $500,000 to begin the design process for a new municipal jail.
The city wants to fast-track recommendations from this commission because in about 45 days, a construction company will want to know the number of beds the city might want for a jail.
Not all previous offenders are as fortunate as Waller to get out and turn their life around, advocating for a fresh start with programs like UMKC School of Law's Clear My Record.
"Now, I have three degrees, graduated with a 3.98 GPA," Waller said.
He has his own suggestions for the commission.
"Invest more in education and mental health," Waller said. "People should be able to find a somewhere to stay. People should be able to eat."
Without shutting the door on people's futures, he believes they can help break the cycle of criminal behavior and he hopes to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
If the city approves a municipal jail, Shields said this commission could help them decide whether to lessen bed space.
The mayor is expected to hand pick members of the new commission next week. Members will have 30 days to prepare research and recommendations to council.
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