Former Kansas Prison Officials Pressure Governor to Commute Death Sentences

Former Kansas prison officials pressure governor to commute death sentences

Former prison officials were the latest to advocate for abolishing the death penalty in Kansas. They convened Sept. 2 at the Statehouse in Topeka to discuss the death penalty’s inherent risks and deliver a letter to the governor’s office, urging…

Former Kansas Corrections Officials Call for Governor to Commute Death Sentences

In a September 2, 2026, op-ed pub­lished in the *Topeka Capital-Journal*, Roger Werholtz, who served as Kansas Secretary of Corrections from 2003 to 2010, calls on Governor Laura Kelly to com­mute the sen­tences of the nine men on Kansas’ death row to life with­out parole. Writing as a for­mer cor­rec­tions offi­cial with expe­ri­ence in both Kansas and Colorado, Mr. Werholtz notes that the state has not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion since 1965, y…