Transformed Kansas City Facility Supports Success After Incarceration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 23, 2022

Contact: Karen Pojmann, Communications Director
Office: 573-522-1118 | Cell: 573-690-7539
karen.pojmann@doc.mo.gov

Transformed Kansas City Facility Supports Success After Incarceration

March 25 Open House Provides Preview of Transition Center of Kansas City

Transition Center of Kansas City Open House
11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Friday, March 25
(tours every half hour; schedule a tour)
651 Mulberry St., Kansas City, MO 64101

In 2017, a nonpartisan study of Missouri’s criminal justice system found that about half of the state’s prison admissions were triggered not by new crimes but by factors such as technical violations of probation or parole. Since then, the Missouri Department of Corrections has been hard at work on initiatives that help people succeed on community supervision and minimize disruptions in employment, housing and child care.

The latest step is the conversion of a former minimum-security prison in Kansas City’s West Bottoms into the Transition Center of Kansas City (TCKC), a residential probation and parole center for men returning to the greater Kansas City area after incarceration. Instead of going home to old habits, clients work with reentry professionals on building a new mindset and the foundation for a better life.

Under the Division of Probation & Parole, TCKC has been fully renovated. It’s equipped with housing for 150 clients and workspace for 106 staff, as well as classrooms, computer labs, a professional-attire lending closet, programming space and other features that promote a therapeutic environment.

The center follows a four-phase programming model established in 2017 at the Transition Center of St. Louis: intake and orientation, programming, pre-release planning, and discharge planning. Clients remain in the facility for at least 60 days, with supervised transportation provided for job interviews and other approved outings. They work on behavioral health, housing, education, vocational training, family reunification, employment, home economics and basic life skills. Programming follows evidence-based practices shown to be effective at reducing risk and recidivism. All residents are employed before they leave.

TCKC is partnering with more than 50 area organizations. They include nonprofits offering holistic reentry services, such as Connections to Success and Journey to New Life; behavioral health treatment providers such as Healing House and Heartland Center for Behavioral Change; technology agencies such as PCs for People and Collaborative Technology Solutions; and financial services such as Mazuma and the Rockhurst Prosperity Center for Financial Opportunity. Addressing employment needs are multiple employers and job training and placement entities, as well as local businesses launched by entrepreneurs formerly involved in the criminal justice system.

The center starts accepting clients April 1.

 

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