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  • In December, then-Missouri Gov. Mike Parson commuted the life sentence of Patty Prewitt, who had already spent 38 years behind bars for a crime she maintains she did not commit. Now, she's out with a new book, "Trying to Catch Lightning in a Jar: Letters from Prison."
  • Patricia Prewitt spent decades imprisoned in Missouri for a murder she says she didn’t commit. She was granted clemency in December and compiled a book of letters detailing her experience.
  • A Missouri inmate serving life without parole on a gun crime says young inmates don’t seem to care if they come and go from prison. Plus: A growing legal movement to grant natural entities like rivers and forests legal rights is having a moment in the US. Now environmentalists are setting their sights on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
  • Nearly 20,000 people are released from Missouri prisons each year. Going home is an adjustment — and a relief. Hear from one man who returned home after 37 years. Plus: Get caught up on news from around the metro.
  • Long hours, dangerous conditions and low pay are causing staffing shortages at Kansas prisons, which have led to inmates being locked in their cells for long stretches. Plus, Mayor Quinton Lucas discusses Kansas City's plan to keep the unhoused population safe over the winter.
  • After spending 43 years in prison for a crime that prosecutors say he didn't commit, Kevin Strickland now has a shot at exoneration — based partly on the hairstyle in his booking photo. Plus, two Missouri lawmakers want to make sure that incarcerated mothers can still care for their newborns behind bars.
  • A privately-run prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, has been plagued with reports of stabbings, understaffing and poor security. When the prison's contract with the U.S. Marshals Service ends this month, what happens next? Plus, after a year off due to COVID, the Kansas City Ballet brings The Nutcracker back to the stage.
  • Transgender inmates say they're put in danger by the Kansas prison system. Multiple inmates said they were targets of harassment and discrimination by fellow inmates, medical staff and corrections officers.
  • For Kevin Strickland, who was released from prison late last year after serving 43 years for a crime he didn't commit, life on the outside hasn’t been easy. Now, in addition to adjusting to the mundane details of everyday life, he's working to educate others on defects in the criminal justice system.
  • Lawsuits in Kansas are challenging the state’s new congressional redistricting plan in court, saying the GOP-drawn map violates the state constitution. Plus, election results from around the Kansas City area.
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