Kansas
How in the world does sending a 70-year-old man back to prison make sense? • Kansas Reflector
I met Mike McCloud back in 2018, when I worked for the ACLU of Kansas. We were fighting for clemency for dozens of people, and Mike was one of them.
We hit it off immediately. Mike has a sunny, southern way about him. He’s chatty and fun, the kind of person you’d like hanging out with.
A judge looked at his time served — and at the fact that he’d been a model inmate who paid back every dime he’d stolen — and released him. Mike had even managed to save money from working, so he had a financial parachute to help him gently reenter society.
Storybook ending? Not with Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe rushing the stage as the villain. Howe challenged Mike’s release, arguing that the judge had no authority to modify the sentence. The Kansas Court of Appeals ruled in Howe’s favor.
This kind of poor judgement is why we can’t have nice things. Back in 2018, Howe defended his decision, but I’ll say now what I said then: We can’t afford prosecutors like Howe if they’re prone to expensive mistakes like this.
Mike will freely admit that he committed a series of robberies back in the 1990s, netting roughly $7,000. Mike will tell you that he served 27 years for that crime, and I will tell you that while he was incarcerated, Kansas lowered the penalties for such crimes.
Under the new legislation, Mike served nearly twice the amount prescribed in the new law. In fact, at about $70 a day, incarcerating McCloud cost taxpayers almost $690,000. Howe wanted Mike, who was 67 at the time, to serve another 21 years.
Again, Mike stole $7,000. Even adjusted for inflation, that’s $14,000. That ain’t Fort Knox.
Mike had diabetes. Had he gone back, he’d likely have contracted COVID-19, given that prisoners simply could not practice social distancing. Considering his age, another 21 years would have amounted to a death sentence. Thankfully, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly granted him clemency in 2021, and he remains a free man today.
This isn’t a tough call. This kind of prosecutorial vengeance remains terribly expensive.
This is just one case. When you consider that the nation has more than 2 million people in prison, this excessive, spendthrift rush to fill our prisons should label Howe and folks like him “tax and spend” conservatives. We’re paying for all this bluster.
He had discretion but chose to send taxpayers another huge, unnecessary bill.
The ACLU of Kansas and the national ACLU have focused considerable reform efforts on prosecutors, who are some of the most powerful people in the justice system. They decide who gets charged, what the charges will be, and make recommendations on sentencing.
I live in Johnson County, and this kind of profligate government spending is concerning. Feeding the ever-expanding prison industrial complex remains expensive, but there’s another element here that disturbs me more: the judgement here, or lack thereof. Considering the costs to taxpayers and the fact that Mike had served his time with exceptional focus and dignity, Howe could have left this matter in his pocket. Most of us wouldn’t consider a diabetic septuagenarian a menace to society.
I’m guessing few people would have complained, and I doubt any of the folks Mike robbed would have wanted to see him go back to prison.
Given the costs, sending Mike back to prison didn’t make sense, but this just seemed cruel and disproportionate. For so many people in these kinds of decision-making positions, it seems cruelty is the point.
Kick them while they’re down. Pile on. Run up the score, as well as the taxpayers’ tab.
If anything, Mike represented a success story. Authorities should be interviewing him about how he entered a cruel and broken system, and emerged not just rehabilitated, but contrite and driven to succeed. He might have the answer to our recidivism issues.
But no.
We’re so focused on retribution that we can’t see (or refuse to see) the lives we’re destroying along the way. I swear, if any of these folks ever saw a rose growing out of a crack in a sidewalk, they would stomp it.
Mike is a beautiful person. I’m so glad that he got to go home.
But what worries me, are all the people like him still sitting in prison, running up bills for taxpayers because someone wanted to prove to voters that they were “tough on crime. Most of them will be returning to Kansas communities.
I’d rather they return with Mike’s sunny disposition, not with the cruelty and bitterness of a virtue-signaling, “look how tough I am” flex.
Mark McCormick is the former executive director of The Kansas African American Museum, a member of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission and former deputy executive director at the ACLU of Kansas. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Indiana’s portal haul continued to grow Sunday as multiple outlets reported the addition of Kansas State edge rusher Tobi Osunsanmi.
Osunsanmi has played in 36 games over the last four years and has 8.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss. Most of that production came over the last two seasons. He has a total of 47 QB pressures during his college career.
In 2025 he played in six games and had 20 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks. He suffered a season-ending injury in October.
He saw action in all 13 games in 2024 as a reserve defensive end and on special teams, recording 19 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble over 303 defensive snaps and 31 special teams plays.
In 2023 he saw time in all 13 games as a reserve linebacker, a rush end on passing downs and on special teams. He was tied for team-high honors with five tackles on kickoff coverage.
He played in four games in 2022 and preserved his redshirt.
The 6-foot-3 and 250-pound Osunsanmi has one year of eligibility remaining.
The Wichita, Kan. product (Wichita East H.S.) was regarded as the 232nd-best overall player in the nation for the Class of 2022 by 247Sports.
Osunsanmi will help fill the void left by outgoing edge rushers Mikail Kamara, Kellan Wyatt and Stephen Daley.
More transfer portal information:
For complete coverage of IU football recruiting, GO HERE.
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LAWRENCE — The Division I transfer portal window for college football is open from Jan. 2 through Jan. 16, and that means Sunday is another chance for the Kansas football program to shape its roster.
The Jayhawks already gained one public addition earlier this offseason in Grand Valley State transfer Jibriel Conde — whose signing was announced Dec. 4. Conde, who is making the jump up from Division II, is a 247Sports-rated three-star defensive lineman in the portal and is listed by KU as a defensive tackle. On Saturday, a number of current Kansas players — including redshirt freshman quarterback Isaiah Marshall, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Keaton Kubecka and redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Blake Herold — also outlined in social media posts on X that they are locked in with the program for the 2026 season.
Marshall is set to compete for the starting quarterback job next season. Kubecka has the chance to step up into a more significant role at wide receiver. Herold is in line to be a key part of Kansas’ defensive line.
Those positives, though, don’t outweigh the fact that there has been a sizable group of players who have revealed their intentions to transfer away. Looking overall, when it comes to those whose decisions became public before and after the portal opened, the significant names to know include redshirt senior safety Lyrik Rawls, redshirt junior linebacker Trey Lathan and freshman quarterback David McComb. Lathan led KU in tackles in 2025.
Check in here for more updates during this transfer portal window about a KU team that finished 5-7 during the 2025 season, with transfer ratings as outlined by 247Sports.
Kansas football transfer portal additions
Jibriel Conde (3-star defensive lineman from Grand Valley State) — KU lists him as a defensive tackle
Kansas football transfer portal departures
Joseph Sipp Jr. (linebacker)
Jacoby Davis (cornerback)
Dylan Brooks (defensive end)
Jaidyn Doss (wide receiver)
Carter Lavrusky (offensive lineman)
Trey Lathan (linebacker)
Tyler Mercer (offensive lineman)
Harry Stewart III (running back)
Caleb Redd (3-star edge) — KU lists him as a defensive end
Aundre Gibson (3-star cornerback)
David McComb (3-star quarterback)
Kene Anene (3-star interior offensive lineman) — KU lists him as an offensive lineman
Laquan Robinson (3-star safety)
Jameel Croft Jr. (3-star cornerback)
Logan Brantley (3-star linebacker)
Greydon Grimes (3-star offensive tackle) — KU lists him as an offensive lineman
Jon Jon Kamara (3-star linebacker)
Lyrik Rawls (3-star safety)
Damani Maxson (3-star safety)
Jaden Hamm (tight end)
Bryce Cohoon (wide receiver)
JaCorey Stewart (linebacker)
Johnny Thompson Jr. (running back)
Efren Jasso (punter)
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Hundreds of people packed the Gem Theatre over the weekend to celebrate Kwanzaa.
The celebrations run nightly through January 1. Each night highlights a different core value, including unity, cooperation and faith.
The event features local vendors and performances. Organizers say it’s a great way to start the new year.
The Kwanzaa celebration is free and open to everyone.
Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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