By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Central Kansas Community Corrections, charged with providing intensive supervision of adult felony offenders instead of sending them to jail, showed last week that their department is underfunded by the State of Kansas. Serving Barton, Stafford, Russell, Ellsworth and Rice counties, CKCC has the seventh highest caseload out of the 31 judicial districts in Kansas, yet receive the 28th lowest funding amount.
The Barton County Commission submitted a letter of support to the state last week for increased local funding. On Tuesday, CKCC Director Brooke Haulmark said the state (Kansas Department of Corrections, KDOC) has acknowledged Barton’s concern as they work on budget allocations.
"I believe they're going to review the numbers some more," said Haulmark. "I don't know if they're necessarily surprised. We have partnered with them in other endeavors. We do house some KDOC parole staff for programming and parole. They are aware we're good partners to work with. They are looking at how to address the disparity across the state."
CKCC is adding a 4th Intensive Supervision Officer (ISO) on Monday that comes from a law enforcement background. Haulmark noted last week that because of a recent resignation from an officer, CKCC is 288 staffing hours short every month.
"We have a wonderful team," said Haulmark. "They pull together. I'm grateful for that. For all five counties that we serve, we want them to be safe. We also want to help these clients to not continue the cycle, but to do that we have to be able to have impactful visits with them. That's difficult with the numbers that we're carrying."
CKCC covers a five-county area, more than 4,000 square miles, making it the fifth highest district in Kansas in square miles. Staff supervises an average of 237 active clients.
The Commission approved the fiscal year 2026 funding for CKCC provided through a Kansas Department of Corrections grant. Haulmark requested $807,892.86 in funding to support six positions and operational costs.