Kansas spent over $400,000 repairing prisons after riots

Kansas says it spent at least $414,000 repairing damage and replacing equipment after inmate riots at three of its prisons in 2017 and 2018.

The figures represent the first attempt by the state Department of Corrections to calculate for legislators the cost of the damage caused by four major disturbances.  Several lawmakers said Tuesday that they were surprised the figure was so large.

Corrections officials said their calculations are probably low because they don’t have complete estimates of what the prisons spent on overtime or what it cost to bring in teams from other facilities.

The riots occurred at the state prison in El Dorado in June 2017 and July 2018, at its prison in Norton in September 2017 and at its correctional mental health center in November 2018