How We Can Use Our Prisons as More Than Warehouses, Bev Livingston. MISD

We will replay – "A Conversation with Nancy Leazer – How We Can Use Our Prisons As More Than Warehouses". Nancy Leazer was the last Director of the old Kansas City Jail, The Farm, before they moved to the Jackson County jail. When the Municipal Correctional Institution was closed in 2009 and all the inmates moved to the county jail, a lot more than the jobs of the employees were lost. The leadership and staff of MCI brought in local not-for-profit businesses to provide services that the city could not afford to address the mental health, drug abuse, homelessness and other problems of the inmates. This created an atmosphere of respect and concern for the prisoners by the administration, staff and organizations that came to provide services. None of those connections and resources have been invited to continue in the county jail where Kansas City now houses prisoners and that has resulted in more recidivism.  Host Dr J. Renee talks with Nancy Leazer, former Superintendent of Corrections at MCI about how she came to the job and the atmosphere she fostered in the facility. She explains how she worked with local service providers to get help for the inmates and…