Бывшие сотрудники пенитенциарной системы Кентукки призывают губернатора отменить смертные приговоры

Former corrections professionals join Kansans urging Gov. Kelly to commute death sentences TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Some former Kansas corrections professionals joined a group of Kansans calling for an end to the death penalty in our state during a rally at the State Capitol building. This group is calling for all Kansas death sentence cases to be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Reasons the group would like to see the death penalty no longer allowed include, but are not limited to, the expense of litigation they believe could be used in other ways, and the concern of killing a wrongfully convicted individual. “Part of what concerns me is that it is a terrible expense [for] states to carry it out, and I think that money could be used in better ways,” said Roger Werholtz. “I’m very concerned about the fallibility of the criminal justice system. The fact that I know [WIBW] has covered this many times - instances of wrongful convictions, instances of error in the courts, the prosecution, police, and frankly, instances of outright misconduct. The possibility that an innocent person might be executed is something that I was not willing to sanction or support.” Local faith leaders recently joined these Kansans speaking out against capital punishment. This time they have written a letter and had it delivered to Governor Laura Kelly urging clemency and featuring signatures from six former Kansas corrections professionals. One of them was Roger Werholtz, the now-retired former secretary of corrections of the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC). He has been in the corrections field for roughly 40 years and spent approximately 25 years with KDOC. “The governor, as I understand it, will deal with each request for clemency in her own way, and certainly I’m going to respect that. Whether it makes a difference at this time or not, I can’t say, but I think the people need to keep raising the issue and explaining what is fact and what is myth in regard to the death penalty and how we can serve public safety without the state participating in the killing of another human being,“ said Werholtz. He says he never took a public position on the death penalty while with KDOC, but once the death penalty was restored, “That was a moment where I had to do some serious reflection about what my role in that would be and whether I was willing to do that or not [...] The way that I approached that was to say that my responsibility is to carry out the laws of the state of Kansas, but my personal position. I guess is the best way to say it, was if that ever came to pass, where I would need to order an execution or participate in an execution, I decided I would resign my position.” Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.