Kansas Governor pushes mental health services for juvenile inmates

TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly announced today the launch of The Council of State Government’s (CSG) Justice Center’s Stepping Up Initiative in Kansas’ juvenile justice system to reduce the over-incarceration of Kansans with mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The initiative provides Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) staff at juvenile justice system facilities with training and other technical assistance (TA) to identify youth who could benefit from behavioral health supports and services to avoid re-incarceration.

Kansas is the first state in the country to launch the Stepping Up initiative in its juvenile justice system.

“Before I got into politics, I worked in a minimum-security prison for boys, where I saw firsthand the benefits of having access to mental health resources,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “That’s why we are expanding the Stepping Up Initiative to our juvenile justice system, so that we are better able to identify and provide mental health and addiction supports to kids who could benefit from them. Helping young people get set up for successful futures will make our state safer and save us money down the road.”

This announcement builds on the Stepping Up Initiative’s success in adult facilities. In February 2021, CSG partnered with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services to create the Kansas Stepping Up TA Center to address the cycle of incarceration of Kansas adults with mental illness.

So far, 95 counties have benefited from TA opportunities, including trainings, webinars, and the sharing of best practices between counties. The TA Center has assisted counties with enhancing infrastructure, building stronger collaboration across the mental health and justice systems, and increasing data capacity at the local level — all of which have strengthened county-level efforts to keep individuals with serious mental illnesses out of jail.