Nichols selected to revise federal guidelines

Former Southeast Kansas Regional Correctional Facility Director of Programs Brad Rich (front) and Director of Security and Jail Administrator Jimmy Nichols monitor inmates through the use of the facility's computerized security system. (Tribune File Photo)

Improvements within the Southeast Kansas Regional Correctional Center have caught the eye of the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result, Jail Administrator Jimmy Nichols was selected to participate in the revision process of county jail guidelines in March.

Nichols said he was one of five administrators from across the country to participate in the workshop which will focus on Inmate Behavior Management. Since becoming the head administrator at the SEKRCC about two years ago, Nichols and his staff have made several changes in programming which have led to budget savings and a decrease in critical incidents.

"I was one of five jail administrators across the country selected because of the changes that we've made in our own institution here," Nichols said. "It's an extreme honor for Bourbon County. I think that it shows how hard our staff has worked."

Nichols will take four other individuals with him to the workshop, scheduled for March 7-11 in Washington, D.C. Accompanying him will be Bourbon County Sheriff Ron Gray, Captain of Corrections Bill Fretwell, Director of Programs Logan Probasco, and a fourth member to be determined at a later date.

Together, the team will work with the other four squads of five to revise the federal standards for county jails, which has not been done in about 25 years, according to Nichols. All expenses for the trip will be covered by the federal government.

Nichols said Inmate Behavior Management is managing the behavior and time of the inmates so those incarcerated do not have to manage their own behavior and time. Inmates are given a structured atmosphere with activities in which they can participate, such as volunteer work detail and movie night, if they display good behavior.

"We can come up with more constructive things for them to do than they can," he said. "We can come up with positive influences ... If you let them lay in a bunk for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they are going to come up with some pretty mischievous things to do."

Nichols said that everything that is done through the management program comes at no cost to taxpayers. He said each inmate has an account which is used to pay for their participation in the activities. Prior to the creation of the Inmate Behavior Management program, he said, the inmates sat in the jail 24 hours a day doing nothing which led to problems.

"What that led to was flooding the jail, fights, which meant taking people to the emergency room to get stitched up at (the) cost of the taxpayer ... Bringing people to clean up, graffiti all over the walls ... it was a burden to the taxpayer," he said. "You can't just sit somebody in a cell and say 'sit there and behave' because they have rights too ... Years ago we didn't have anything to say 'if you act that way, you're going to get to partake in this program.' Now we actually have things in place like movie night, like the work crew, like we have weights in their (recreation) area where they can life weights, supervised by staff ... If they don't behave, or follow the inmate behavior management, those are things that we can actually take away from them now."

Nichols said offering things for the inmates to do provides them with something to look forward to which, in turn, prevents acts of violence and vandalism in the jail. He added that since the program has been in place medical costs are at an all-time low, medication costs are lower, maintenance costs have lowered and it has been two years since the last incident with graffiti. Nichols said he believes this will be the first year that the jail has finished the year under budget.

Nichols said a common misconception about the county jail is that the inmates are treated too well. He said there are men and women serving in the military to protect the rights provided by the United States Constitution and one of those rights is that all men are innocent until proven guilty. He added, being in the county jail is not a pleasant experience.

"We have already taken these guys' greatest gift ... by taking their freedom when they are incarcerated without being convicted of anything," he said. "Upon conviction that changes everything, but we run a county jail ... Three-quarters of them have not been convicted of a crime yet ... We have to treat them like human beings because they haven't been convicted of anything, this is a county jail, not a prison."