Corrections

For the first time in more than four decades, Sandra Hemme may get to spend Thanksgiving with her family — not in prison. Hemme was wrongly convicted of murdering a St. Joseph librarian in 1980, but a Missouri judge overturned the charges this year.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office is opposing the release of Howard Roberts after a Greene County circuit judge ordered a retrial. This is the third time this summer that Bailey has opposed the release of a prisoner whose conviction was vacated.

Jefferson City Correctional Center’s warden was replaced last week without explanation following the investigation of an inmate’s death, causing activists to call for answers.

At least 105 people have died behind bars in Missouri so far this year. Beginning next month, the Missouri Justice Coalition is going around the state — including a stop in Kansas City — to focus on prison conditions and outline the case for reform.

The Kansas prison system has fired two employees and disciplined six others for insulting, mistreating, and denying medical care to a prisoner after she hurt herself. Plus: Volunteers around the Midwest are working to tag monarch butterflies as part of an effort to learn more about their journey each year to Mexico.

An after-school program teaches kids life skills through constructing lowrider bikes. Its founder, Martin Cervantes, says he was once a troubled kid himself.

Michael Rogers was hospitalized after being violently attacked by members of the Aryan Brotherhood in retaliation for cooperating with prosecutors. His lawsuit accused the Kansas Department of Corrections of placing him in the general population at El Dorado Correctional Facility despite known threats to his safety.

The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office will not file criminal charges in the death of Cedric Lofton, who died in September after being taken to the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center.

Segment 1: Public defenders are calling prisons during pandemic ticking time bombsIn light of the ongoing COVID-19 scare, individual correctional…

In the 1830s, a wave of immigrants from northern Germany settled in the area of Cole Camp, Missouri, bringing with them their farming skills and the dialect of Plattdüütsch. Now residents are working to keep this language alive.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says that without focusing on basic city services in 2020, any goodwill that’s been built up means nothing.“I can say…

Segment 1: Germany's prisons emphasize rehabilitation and resocialization for their inmates.Germany is doing a lot of things differently than the U.S.…