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Shawnee County corrections seeks dozens of staff and $3.3 million to open behavioral health unit
Summary
County Department of Corrections asked commissioners for staffing and operating funds to open a behavioral health unit in its jail annex, including 30 specialized correctional specialists and new maintenance and transport positions; total personnel costs for new positions estimated at about $3.29 million.
Shawnee County Department of Corrections Director Brian Cole told commissioners on July 3 that the department’s 2026 budget centers on opening a new behavioral health unit to house people with serious mental illness and provide targeted programming.
Cole said the department is requesting funding primarily to hire 30 correctional specialists dedicated to the behavioral health unit, plus three additional program/classification/transportation positions and three maintenance positions. The new posts would work 12‑hour shifts and require specialized training in crisis intervention techniques and mental‑health first aid. Cole said the department may scale the number of hires if full staffing proves infeasible and that some existing posts would be reallocated rather than eliminated.
The line‑item increases drive a roughly 14–17% increase for the detention budget, according to materials Cole referenced. County staff later confirmed that the combined 36 new…
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