DOCR defends transitional facilities and requests funds for MRCC replacement, warns bill limiting placements would raise costs

Colby Braun, director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told the Appropriations Committee that transitional facilities and reentry programs have reduced return‑to‑prison rates and that removing those options would increase costs to the state and to victims.

Braun described DOCR’s population, staffing pressures, and capital requests (including design of a replacement for the Missouri River Correction Center) and urged the committee to consider the fiscal and public‑safety impacts of bills that would limit the use of transitional facilities. He provided performance figures for transitional programs and said the department is asking the Legislature to authorize capital funds and additional operating capacity to meet current needs.

"Prison is the punishment," Braun said. "Our job ... is to find them a path to success," which he said reduces future victims and returns fewer people to prison. He presented DOCR’s case with data on reentry outcomes, staffing turnover and requests for facility design and construction.

Braun told the committee the DOCR provides care, custody and community supervision for more than 9,500 people statewide and that the department currently serves about 200 people in transitional facilities (work‑release and reentry centers). The agency requested funding for a design for a new, 600‑bed Missouri River Correction Center replacement and additional…