TOPEKA (KSNT) — The fight to end the death penalty in Kansas is ramping up, as more activists are calling on Governor Laura Kelly for change.
On Wednesday, Sep. 2, former correction professionals gathered at the Kansas Capitol Building. There, they sent a strong message to Kelly.
“We are asking the governor to commute the Kansas death sentence to an imprisonment of life without the possibility of parole,” said Marilyn Scafe, Former Chair of the Kansas Parole Board.
Currently in Kansas, there are nine individuals on death row. Activists at the statehouse are pushing Gov. Kelly to change the sentence of these individuals from a death sentence to a life sentence.
“The death penalty does not make us safer,” said Robert Sanders, former member of the Kansas Parole Board. “Not in our communities or in our correctional institutions.”
While at the statehouse, activists submitted a formal letter to the Governor. They shared a portion of it with our Kansas Capitol Bureau on Tuesday.
“As former corrections professionals and administrators, we urge you to commute all death sentences in Kansas to life without the possibility of parole, a decision that would have profound positive implications for the Kansas Department of Corrections. We know that the resumption of executions could have a lasting impact on the lives of the personnel who are asked to carry them out. The psychological toll of carrying out a death sentence is well-documented. We have heard reports from colleagues and read detailed accounts in the media about the toll it has taken on our fellow corrections professionals. In particular, botched executions can have a devastating and traumatic impact on those asked to carry out executions.”
Letter from Kansas Corrections Professionals to Gov. Kelly
Now, this is the second time in three months that activists have gathered at the statehouse to send this message. In July, faith leaders held a press conference of their own, also sending a letter to Gov. Kelly calling on her to commute Kansas death sentences.
“We want to make sure that we do everything we can to get her the information that she needs to make the decision,” Sanders said. “We know it’s a policy decision. Faith leaders, they have a viewpoint, and the correctional staff, we certainly have a different viewpoint as well. Especially if we’ve worked personally inside the system.”
Our Kansas Capitol Bureau reached out to Governor Kelly for a response to Wednesday’s press conference. A member of her staff provided the following response:
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“Each request for executive clemency is reviewed on a case-by-case basis in a process that will continue as it has throughout Governor Kelly’s time in office.”
Olivia Taylor Puckett, communications director for Kansas Governor Laura Kelly
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