NCJ Number
80092
Date Published
1980
Length
103 pages
Annotation
Activities of the Kansas ombudsman's office are reported for fiscal year 1980.
Abstract
A concerted effort was made to work with the Kansas Correctional Institution for Women, which resulted in a study of the documentation of management decisions affecting the State's female inmates and a report on the subject with 27 recommendations. The ombudsman's office also worked for promulgation of rules and regulations within the Department of Corrections as well as on property loss claim procedures to expedite reimbursement to correctional staff members for personal property lost or damaged due to action taken in the line of duty. The annual report contains examples of the offices' investigation reports dealing with such matters as property damage caused by fire, institutional accident blamed for hearing loss, property lost while in storage, and alleged theft from cell. Examples of complaints include physical facility complaint, complaint against staff, medical complaint, daily routine complaint and physical threat complaint. A statistical presentation summarizes complaints received in the past 5 years, complaints by institution, by race of inmate, by the nature and the disposition of the complaint, how the complaints were initiated, the ombudsman's response time, and other categories. Staff biographies, definitions of complaint handling terms, statutory citation, and distances in miles to Department of Correction's adult correctional facilities from the ombudsman office in Topeka are appended. The text of a study on decisionmaking processes for inmate management at the Kansas Correctional Institution for Women is also included. Tabular data and photographs are given.