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A Kansas law that would increase time spent behind bars for drunk drivers was approved by the House of Representatives last week, posing capacity problems for county jails.

The new bill would sentence even first-time DUI offenders to up to six months in jail, rather than in prison where they could get the treatment they need.

“We want safe streets,” said Sedgwick Country Sheriff Gary Steed. “We arrest hundreds of these drivers each year, but assign them to the prisons, where they can get what they need, not the jails…The jail is just a pre-trial holding facility. All I can give them is a bed.

‘Super DUI Bill’

The new law was originally designed to correct an administrative technicality for drunk driving license suspensions. However, it was recognized that the current DUI laws in the state failed to meet the strict federal requirements.

“When it got to the House, they started loading it up and making it this super-DUI bill,” said Sen. Phil Journey, also a drunk driving defense lawyer.

The law targets drivers with a blood alcohol content of 0.16 or more, twice the level allowed by the law. “These drivers are 20 times more likely to be in a crash,” said Rep. Lance Kinzer. “They need harsher penalties,” which would include mandatory jail time.

Jail Time Not a Treatment

The Sedgwick County jail holds an average of 1,600 inmates a day, according to Steed. More than 200 of them typically have to be moved to other counties because of overcrowding issues.

Sedgwick County law enforcement issued 800 DUI citations, while Wichita police wrote up nearly 1,500. With the passing of the bill, it’s apparent that county jails will be strained.

Some contend that the harsher penalties proposed under the new law would not be as effective in stopping drunk driving as treatment programs designed to attack the core of the problem.

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