City leaders consider temporary, modular jail in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - City leaders discussed building a temporary jail facility in Kansas City as an option for combating crimes and preparing the city for the 2026 World Cup.
On Tuesday, city leaders voted to have the City Manager pursue a study to figure out exactly what this would look like.
“We have realities in Kansas City right now where we need more people incarnated unfortunately,” said Mayor Quinton Lucas.
City leaders are eyeing a modular jail facility for local arrests as a short-term solution. It would be temporary and quickly built.
The idea is to create a space for arrests linked to issues like sideshows, ATV racing, break-ins and other property crime.
“The public safety problems to persist, we need more capacity for the World Cup and frankly we need to work to bring our folks back into Kansas City.”
4th District Councilman Crispin Rea, although skeptical at first, sees how these facilities are used around the country and believes it will be beneficial here.
He said he doesn’t believe funding would be an issue.
“We’ve approved the public safety sales tax, so we have some funding there, but we also currently spend about 5 million on our corrections and our agreements with Vernon and Johnson counties, so we have a source of funding there as well,” explained Rea.
Nancy Leazer worked at the Municipal Correctional Institution for 15 years before the city closed it in 2009. She has seen the benefits, first-hand.
“When they’re in a jail situation the sobriety is enforced and they’re clean and at that point you can bring in the services from non-profit organizations to help them.”
While some leaders see it as a public safety investment others see misplaced priorities.
“The best way to heal from substance abuse, mental health disorder and behavioral disorders is in housing, not in jails.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Lucas said those are still their priorities as well, it’s not either or.
“This not Kansas City saying were not investing in mental health services or affordable housing, this is saying that we can do all of them.”
The City Manager will return to the city council with recommendations on cost, location, capacity and staffing in 30 days.
This would be a quickly built, temporary solution as the city works to build a permanent detention facility.
If approved, it would be the first step in possibly bringing this facility here. Currently, there is no funding set aside for the project.
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