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Jones said the two parks received more than 25,000 hours of inmate labor from Toronto Correctional Facility last year.

The closing equates to losing 12 full-time employees. It would cost about $347,000 to replace that labor by hiring replacement workers, Jones said, but there's no budget for such spending.

That leaves three state maintenance workers to care for more than 2,000 acres and about 265 camp sites.

"We'll just have to prioritize and take care of the most popular campgrounds as best we can," Jones said. "We should be all right until we have something big like a flood... and we had five of those last year."

Corrections cuts

Roger Werholtz, Kansas Department of Corrections secretary, said his agency is having to find more than $9 million in 2009 budget cuts, as requested by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and the Legislature.

The department began making cuts last summer, when the governor told state agencies to look for ways to cut 3 percent from their 2009 budgets.

The announcement about closing the prisons came last month.

"Whenever we've had budget recessions in the past, closing facilities has been a possibility," Werholtz said. "But this is the first time we've had to go that deep."

Werholtz is aware that the closings will have a negative impact on other government departments and some rural economies.

"Our No. 1 priority is public safety, and we could move these... prisoners to other facilities without impacting public safety," he said. "It was the least-onerous choice we had, but there have been no good choices."

Operations have already been suspended at a minimum-security honor camp at Osawatomie. The Toronto facility should close Feb. 27. A camp at Stockton is scheduled to close April 1.

The camps might be re-opened if the economy improves, though corrections officials expect mandates for more budget cuts in 2010.

A similar facility north of El Dorado, where that state park gets its labor, is not scheduled to close this year, but Werholtz said closure remains a possibility.

If it does close?

"We'll be seriously up a creek," said Doug Lauxman, El Dorado State Park manager.

Cheney State Park is expected to continue to get inmate labor help from the prison in Hutchinson.

Werholtz said the Toronto closure should save his department about $275,000 this year.

The roughly 160 inmates from the three camps are being scattered among other facilities around the state. Transferred inmates may have a chance to work on crews from their new facilities.

Werholtz said work crews from all corrections facilities could decline because of cuts.

The Corrections Department continues to look for more ways to cut costs, and Werholtz said layoffs are a possibility.

Uses for inmates

Corrections officials said Kansas inmates perform about 1 million hours of labor annually. Pay is about $1 a day.

Last year, the parks benefited from more than 81,000 hours of inmate labor.

Jim Griffitts, an officer at Toronto Correctional Facility, said the camp was placed there in the mid-1960s specifically so crews could work at Fall River and Cross Timbers (formerly Toronto) state parks. Griffitts said Toronto inmates performed about 66,000 hours of labor last year, which includes work away from the park.

The city of Fredonia has had an inmate crew for about a year. Rusty Ratzlaff, Fredonia public works director, wishes they had come sooner.

"It's not like we've laid off paid workers," he said. "We're using the inmates for things (city workers) haven't had time to do.

"I've had more compliments on how good things are looking than ever."

Skilled labor

Inmates perform duties more skilled than picking up trash.

Tuesday, state park maintenance worker Paul Hughes supervised a crew as they removed piles of driftwood from last summer's floods.

"That's a 1975 tractor and the only reason it's running is because of the inmates," Hughes said. "They're about the only reason most of these vehicles are running.

"When something breaks down, there's always some gear-head who knows how to take it apart and put it back together so it runs. We just buy the parts. That saves us a lot of money and time."

Jones said skilled inmate labor played huge roles in installing the parks' cabins, playgrounds and paved roads.

"A lot of these people come here trained in construction, plumbing, or heavy-equipment operation," Jones said. "Those skills are really expensive when you have to pay for them."

Popular with inmates

Inmates interviewed Tuesday said they have appreciated an opportunity to work while at Toronto Correction Facility.

"When you're locked inside, the clock and calendar don't move," Troy Ghramm said. "You kind of get into a routine of working every day. Time passes."

Near Ghramm, inmates Ben Kolterman and Ryan Wilson laid rocks gathered from a nearby ranch against a cabin's foundation.

Wilson said it gives him a chance to learn masonry, which he will combine with his previous experience as a roofer when released.

Kolterman said he enjoyed the chance to stay sharp on his longtime occupation of laying rock and brick. He said he will make more than $20 an hour when released.

Griffitts said there's a correlation between inmates who regularly work and reduced disciplinary problems.

"It all goes back to the idle hands and idle minds thing," he said. "They need something to do.

"Also, some of these guys come with no experience of working. This teaches them a work routine."

Public opposition

Jones, interim manager for Fall River and Cross Timbers state parks, said she started getting calls shortly after the Toronto facility closing was announced.

Some asked whether a favorite part of a park would be open. Several groups volunteered to help with maintenance.

While volunteer work will be appreciated, few think it can replace the thousands of hours of inmate labor.

Joe Costin of Altoona spent much of Monday and Tuesday fishing for catfish from the shore at Cross Timbers.

"They've always done such a great job of keeping these parks looking good," he said of the inmates. "It doesn't make a lot of sense."
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1035356.html