Kansas still has the death penalty. This former prison official wants it gone.
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You're listening to the Kansas Reflector podcast. I'm Anna Kaminsky, a reporter with Kansas Reflector. On September second, a group of former Kansas prison officials convened reporters and spoke about their opposition to the death penalty before delivering a letter to Governor Laura Kelly, urging her to commute the existing death sentences in Kansas. It was the latest on a decades long push to ban the death penalty in Kansas. A death sentence hasn't been carried out in the state since nineteen sixty five when two men were hanged. It was banned for a third time after those executions and then reinstated again in nineteen ninety four.
What prompted the former prison officials to meet Governor Kelly about death‑row commutations?
Nine men sit on death row today. Several of them have outstanding clemency requests with the governor. Roger Wehrholtz, a longtime employee of the Kansas Department of Corrections and etc. secretary from 2002 to 2010 and again in 2019 was one of the former prison officials who urged the governor to take action on September second on those clemency requests. He and I spoke immediately following the press conference to dive deeper into the issue and how ha it has evolved in the decades since he has been a vocal advocate of abolishing the death penalty. Here is my conversation with Roger Werholtz. All right, Mr. Wareholz, thank you so much for being here with me today.
Sure. Glad to be here.
So you and I are just returning from a press conference at the State House, um, where you and two others spoke about the death penalty and have have an ask for the governor and you delivered a letter to her office. Can you tell uh listeners a little bit more about that press conference? What was at its core?
Sure. There really um one specific issue and one more general issue that we wanted to address. The specific issue had to do with requesting that Gov Governor Kelly consider commutation of capital sentences for individuals who are um confined in Kansas Department of Corrections. and ask that those sentences be commuted to life without possibility of parole. The larger issue for me in particular is simply the abolition of the death sentence in Kansas and nationally. Um in my view it serves no useful purpose. Uh it does not contribute to public safety, it does not serve as a deterrent, and there is too much opportunity for error and misuse of that um that particular uh consequence for heinous crimes and it distracts from um
other public safety issues and distracts from uh families of victims of those crimes.
And can you tell listeners about your background? How did you get into this advocacy work and and where did it where did it come from?
Um The advocacy portion came After I retired from the Kansas Department of Corrections the first time, the personal beliefs. preceded that and I certainly held them while I was still serving as um deputy secretary and secretary of of KDO C.
And you retired in twenty twelve, is that right? Uh two
thousand ten. Two thousand ten the first time. Okay. And then um subsequent to that I went to Colorado for a few months to replace their uh executive director who had been murdered by Pearl Lee.
Wow.
And um Until they could hire a a permanent E. D. And then um when Governor Kelly was elected I came back briefly to the Kansas Department of Corrections again until they could um recruit and hire um a permanent secretary of corrections here in Kansas. So
And you're now currently retired, is that right?
I th I think so. I still do some consulting work, but I like to say, Yeah, I'm retired.
Yeah. Why is it important for you to take time out of your retirement to do things like you did today?
Um I think it's it's an important policy that needs to be discussed. I think that Um Oh I let me back up and just say this. If you had told me before I started working in corrections that I'd spend most of my life doing that, I would have said you were out of your mind. I had no interest in doing that. But I sort of backed into it. And found out w one that I really liked it. And what I liked As much as anything. Were the people that I worked with. Um I think we had a an incredible set of employees within the department while I was there.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:40
2
What prompted the former prison officials to meet Governor Kelly about death‑row commutations?
0:40–7:07
3
How did the September 2 press conference frame the request for commutations?
7:07–11:22
4
Why does Roger Werholtz believe the death penalty serves no useful purpose?
11:22–14:38
5
What personal experiences led Werholtz to become an abolition advocate?
14:38–35:14
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