jail

Kansas City officials have said the bulk of the money generated by the quarter-cent public safety sales tax will go toward a new municipal detention center.

Missouri will hold municipal elections on April 8. Voters across the Kansas City area will weigh in on issues like investing in public safety, improving infrastructure and electing their school board members. Here's a guide to what's on your ballot, plus what you need to vote.

Kansas City voters will decide on April 8 whether to renew the public safety sales tax for 20 more years. Officials plan to use the bulk of the money to build a new municipal detention center. Despite concerns about property crime and gun violence, some residents don’t want a new jail built.

El impuesto a las ventas de seguridad pública de Kansas City se ha utilizado para apoyar al departamento de policía y los servicios médicos y de emergencia. El alcalde Quinton Lucas y otros funcionarios quieren que los votantes lo renueven para que la ciudad pueda usar el dinero para construir una nueva cárcel y un centro de rehabilitación.

Kansas City’s public safety sales tax has been used to support the police department and emergency and medical services. Mayor Quinton Lucas and other officials want voters to renew it so the city can use the money to build a new jail and rehabilitation center.

There are 418 Missourians across the state on a waiting list for a mental health bed, up from around 300 at this time last year. People are spending an average of 14 months in jail before receiving their court-ordered treatment.

A proposal by Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman would outlaw the use of restraints on pregnant women in the third trimester, during labor and for the first 48 hours postpartum “except in extraordinary circumstances.” Missouri banned the practice in state prisons in 2018.

Jail deaths at the City Justice Center in St. Louis are slightly higher than public safety officials previously shared and much higher than online reports show. But deaths at the CJC so far this year are the lowest they’ve been since 2021.

After Republicans dominated last week's elections, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas discusses how he hopes to work with Missouri's new leaders — and President-elect Trump. Plus, he talks about the latest news on the city jail and a potential new WNBA team.

The city council approved a plan in September to build a holding facility on the 8th floor of KCPD headquarters downtown. In a recent letter to city officials, Graves says officials should consider a different location.

Kansas City officials want to reconstitute the jail on the top floor of KCPD headquarters. The city closed the jail in 2015, and — after an agreement with Jackson County fell through — now sends detainees to mid-Missouri.

Kansas City Council members are working on details to fund the construction of a new jail. Next spring, voters could be asked whether to renew the public safety sales tax in order to build an estimated 250-bed rehabilitation and detention center.