KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is raising concerns after six escapes, a death, an assault and an attempted suicide at the city’s temporary jail.
KCUR reports that Lucas says he is “incredibly underwhelmed” with the Heartland Center for Behavioral Change after moving some of its municipal inmates there in June.
The city previously housed inmates at the Jackson County Detention Center but stopped after the county sought to increase the amount it charged. Inmates also are housed in jails in the Missouri counties of Vernon and Johnson. Lucas says the city is “looking for better opportunities long-term.”
Heartland President and CEO Kyle Mead says the private, nonprofit facility was not built to be a detention center. He says the city has the resources to have its own detention facility.
