The Missouri Department of Corrections is converting a Kansas City prison release center into a new type of facility.
The newly named Kansas City Re-Entry Center takes the place of the Kansas City Community Release Center, which for years released several hundred parolees daily into downtown Kansas City.
Beginning next month, the building in the city's West Bottoms will become a minimum-security prison, housing inmates nearing parole.
The Kansas City Star reports the Downtown Council complained for years that too many high risk ex-offenders on parole supervision were streaming into downtown from the release center. The council worked with the Corrections Department on the prison transition.
Under the new program, inmates are expected to stay there about six to nine months, until they find housing and jobs.
