‘Second Look Act’ could shorten sentences for Kansas prisoners

Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat, hears testimony Feb. 26, 2025, at the Senate Local Government, Transparency and Ethics Committee. (Grace Hills/ Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — A Kansas Senate bill would let inmates seek resentencing after a set period of time based on their age during the offense — an effort to reduce excessive prison time, especially for young offenders. 

SB 255, the “Second Look Act,” would allow inmates to petition for resentencing 10 years after their sentencing if the inmate was younger than 25 or older than 50 when the offense was committed and 15 years after if they were between 25 and 50 years old. 

The bill would also allow petitions 10 years after sentencing if prisoners’ veteran status was not considered, or if they’ve completed all rehabilitative programming required. They could also petition on the effective date of a law that would have shortened their sentence had it been applied retroactively. 

Scott Schultz, the executive director for the Kansas Sentencing Commission, said that if the law was enacted, roughly 4,000 prisoners could petition for resentencing.

(Graphic by Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

He said there are currently 2,831 inmates who have served more than 10 years and were younger than 25 years old at the time of the offense. There are 90 inmates who have served more than 10 years and were more than 50 years old at the time of the offense, and there are 884 inmates who have served more than 15 years and were between 25 and 49 years old at the time of the offense. 

The bill was introduced by Wichita Democrat Sen. Oletha Faust Goudeau. The Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight heard testimony Friday, Nov. 7. 

Goudeau said she heard from the parents of a prisoner in her district who was sentenced at a young age. She said the parents wanted to see their son before they died. 

A yearning to see family was echoed across testimonies from both prisoners who wrote in and and a mother of a prisoner. 

“My youngest, and only son Robert was sentenced at just 23 years of age to a 38-year sentence,” Dania Long testified. “He has now served over 10 of those years. I am not here to say he’s innocent. He made mistakes, as so many young people do. He was immature. His brain was still developing, and he was impulsive. However, the young man who went into prison at 23 is not the same person who sits there today.”

She continued: “Robert has grown, he has matured, and he has reflected deeply on his choices and the harm they caused. He is taking responsibility. He just needs the opportunity.” 

Robert Long and two other young co-defendants were charged with robbery and battery in 2016. 

“A second chance would give me an opportunity to amend the wrongs I have done in my life,” wrote Dean Bolen Jr., who is currently serving a 25-years-to-life sentence in a child sex case. 

He’s 47 now, went to prison at 30, and could be released at age 56 at the earliest. 

(Graphic by Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

Bolen Jr. and the eight other prisoners who wrote testimony outlined the steps they’ve taken to better themselves, with most pointing to a strong religious influence. Some reflected on their childhoods. 

Ronald Beard was 21 when he was charged with murder. He’s 38 now. He wrote about being homeless, stealing food and getting jumped. He felt like his whole world was his friends: “We shared the same hurt, and brokenness.” 

“Yes I was a gang member. Due to abandonment issues of my dad going to prison. I was hurt as a child, and I didn’t know how to talk about my hurt,” he wrote. 

Curtis Coleman also wrote about his upbringing. He was convicted when he was 15 years old and has spent 27 years in prison for the murder of a 10-year-old girl. 

“Growing up in Kansas City, Kansas there were so many outlets for a young person trying to find his/her way. But for me, those outlets were already chosen for me,” Coleman wrote. “My father was a well known street dude in every sense of the words, my mother young with 3 kids and a fourth on the way while she was blindly committed to a man that wasn’t ready to be a father nor committed to anything other than himself.” 

Recent investigations have left some convinced Coleman’s conviction was the result of corruption. Coleman’s case is entangled with disgraced 1990s Kansas City, Kansas, police detective Roger Golubski — who was accused of misconduct, including forcing confessions from young Black men. Golubski died by suicide the day his trail was to begin. 

Coleman didn’t address the corruption in his letter. Instead, he asked for a second chance. 

“If given a second chance, (I would be) continuing to be part of the solution, and do my best to help change the direction of many misguided and traumatized people,” Coleman wrote. 

Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, supported the Second Look Act. Daniel Landsman, the nonprofit’s vice president of policy, testified that the Second Look Act in D.C. is the “best second look act mechanism in the nation.”

He said that as of June 2023, 195 people had been released under the act, with 4% rearrested.