By JUDD WEIL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson community is responding after the tragic death of a woman walking from the Reno County Jail on March 23 sparked outrage on the safety concerns of people walking from the jail back into town during the night.
The Kansas Recovery Network has formed a partnership with Axel’s Taxi to drive released people from the jail back to where they need to go at no cost to them.
The initiative is called the Nikia Project, named after Nikia F. Thomas, who was killed after a single-vehicle accident when she was walking at night on South Severance in Hutchinson from the Reno County Jail.
“From the jail to the next intersection headed back into town, walking north like she [Nikia F. Thomas] was, is almost a full mile and the speed out there I’m pretty sure is 50 miles an hour,” Jacci Espinosa, Kansas Recovery Network founding member and treasurer, said. “There are no street lights and there are no sidewalks out there. It is dark and it is dangerous.”
Nikia F. Thomas was struck by a car and transported to Ascension Via Christi where she later died from her injuries.
Espinosa said that since Reno County Jail was moved to its current location eight years ago, she has heard about quite a few close calls out there.
Espinosa said it is about a 20 minute walk from the jail to the nearest intersection.
“That gives you an idea of how long people are on just that pure dark stretch of road.”
The Nikia Project is addressing the dangers to people released from Reno County Jail at night to protect drivers and pedestrians from incidents like the one that killed Nikia F. Thomas.
“The Kansas Recovery Network is a harm reduction coalition, actually the first one that's been organized in the state, so anytime that we see any type of harm in the community, we always try to think of a solution to that harm,” Espinosa said. “This also falls into that because at the jail they just release people all the time.”
According to Espinosa, released people cannot use the jail phone on their way out. She added that more than likely if someone had a phone on their person, it was returned dead.
“There's just not any resources to even attempt to get a call unless you manage to get someone to come bond you out,” Espinosa said.
Espinosa continued, “in her [Nikia F. Thomas] specific instance, she was there on a misdemeanor charge, so it's very likely, I don't know the details of how she was released and I don't actually know her, but it appears from my experience with the jail that she probably just bonded herself out because it was a very low-level crime.”
Wanting to put together a solution, Espinosa said she reached out to Axel’s Taxi.
“I was trying to think of a way to have an immediate solution instead of just complaining about it on Facebook, so I reached out to the owner of Axel’s Taxi,” Espinosa said.
In order to keep up with the cost of the Nikia Project so that Axel’s Taxi can continue providing rides, the Kansas Recovery Network has set up a GoFundMe.
The Kansas Recovery Network, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is committed to holding these restricted donated funds. Any money donated to the Nikia Project will only be used for the Nikia Project. Funds will be used for things like providing gasoline and keeping up with wear and tear.
“The owner of Axel’s Taxi, his name is Nick, has pledged to match donations to the project up to $1,000,” Espinosa said.
Additionally, any donations received over the requested amount will be donated to Nikia F. Thomas's family.
Espinosa said she will be putting out flyers for the Nikia Project’s services so that people released from the jail know who to contact and how to reach them for rides.
Espinosa also wants to see action from the City of Hutchinson and Reno County governments.
“I really feel like it's not an overreach to have street lights out there,” Espinosa said. “I feel like they don’t need to own the land to do that.”
“They have built other things on the other side of the street from where the jail is. They built the animal shelter out there and there's a dog park out there so there's obviously a way to do stuff to that street.”
Espinosa’s other hope for the Nikia Project, other than keeping people released from the Reno County Jail safe, is to remind people that they do not need to wait for the government to come up with a solution, and that people can take care of each other.
The Nikia Project has already reached Kansas legislators, gaining the attention of State Representative for the 102nd House District of Kansas Jason Probst. He commented about the project on Facebook.
"One of the things I really like about Hutchinson is the action people will immediately take to fix a problem and right a wrong," Probst said. "In this case, a group has arranged for a local taxi service to pick up those released from jail after dark, with the Kansas Recovery Network paying the cab fare."
In the last 15 hours since being up and since the posting of this article, the Nikia Project GoFundMe has raised over $650 of their current $2,500 goal.
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