By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post
Central Kansas Community Corrections (CKCC) is in charge of supervising people on parole in the criminal justice system in Barton, Ellsworth, Rice, Russell and Stafford counties.
The agency is located in Great Bend. Its goal is to have no more than 25% of the individuals it supervises go into the Kansas prison system.
CKCC Director Amy Boxberger reported earlier this year that during the latest reporting period, only 15% ended up in jail.
Boxberger and Tyler Lehmkuhl, an Intensive Supervision Officer with the agency, were guests last week on 1590 KVBG and 95.5 FM's County Edition. Lehmkuhl discussed one of CKCC's success stories.
"I literally tell my clients all the time it's a cycle, and if you don't change, your kids will be in this seat someday," Lehmkuhl said. "I told one of our clients that a long time ago and now he's running this fatherhood initiative here in town. That was kind of the key thing that stuck with him is if I don't change, my kids will be here someday. So that's kind of my biggest focus. We've got to break that cycle so you can get out of the system so your kids most likely won't be in the same chair you're in someday."
The use of illegal drugs and their resulting consequences have long been tied to people being incarcerated. Boxberger reported that illegal drugs remain a significant issue.
"Between overdoses and suicide, we've got new problems in Barton County and our surrounding area,” Boxberger said. “Fentanyl is in the drugs now. It was not before when I started. That’s creating a whole other level of addiction, physical addiction, and unfortunately, lethal overdoses.”
Some of CKCC's case management efforts are directed toward extensive drug testing, substance abuse treatment and connecting parolees with community and statewide services.