TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Department of Corrections recently honored employees in its uniformed, non-uniformed and contract divisions.

Ryan McCorkle, a corrections officer with the Hutchinson Correctional Facility, was recognized as the Uniformed Employee of the Year during that event

Kansas Senator Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, who is the chair of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight, said KDOC employees work to improve Kansas every day.

Baumgardner, who called the KDOC the state’s largest mental health provider, said the KDOC also houses the largest population of Kansans who are lagging in reading ability and who grew up in an environment surrounded by poverty, abuse, and addiction.