An 80-year-old man serving a life sentence for raping at least two children was found dead in his cell at Lansing Correctional Facility, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. Larry James Gregg was found unresponsive inside his cell, and staff and medical personnel administered life-saving measures but were unable to revive him. His autopsy results remain pending.
A Kansas Department of Corrections news release identified David Thompson as a public information officer. The Kansas City Star reported the case. Gregg had spent around one month at the El Dorado Correctional Facility before being moved to Lansing, a medium-security facility, per the same report. He was sentenced to life in prison on May 9, 2025, according to a Kansas Department of Corrections inmate listing cited by the Star.
Gregg's sentence followed a Saline County jury's verdict finding him guilty of four counts each of rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child, per Kansas court documents referenced in the Star's reporting. According to a criminal complaint, the alleged incidents involved at least two victims under the age of 14 and occurred in Saline County between 2007 and 2015.
How Kansas Handles a Death Behind Bars
Any death of an inmate in Kansas Department of Corrections custody automatically triggers an independent investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation unless an autopsy or attending physician determines the cause was natural, under Kansas Statute K.S.A. 75-52,147, according to Justia Law. Separately, Kansas Statute K.S.A. 22a-231 requires that the coroner or deputy coroner be notified whenever someone dies inside a Kansas jail or correctional facility, per the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes.
A July 2025 statement from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation noted that state statute obligates its agents to respond to and investigate in-custody deaths in Kansas facilities, according to a GovDelivery bulletin. That kind of scrutiny isn't new to Lansing. KRDO reported in January 2023 that the KBI opened a homicide investigation after a 62-year-old inmate was found unresponsive inside his cell at the same facility and could not be revived.
An Aging Facility Housing an Aging Population
Lansing Correctional Facility, authorized under the Kansas Constitution in 1859 and opened in 1868 as the Kansas State Penitentiary, is the state's oldest and largest prison complex for adult male offenders, with an operational capacity of roughly 2,400 inmates, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. In 2020, the department replaced Lansing's historic 1860s stone prison structure with a modernized 418,000-square-foot facility built by CoreCivic, designed to house up to 1,920 medium- and maximum-security inmates, per CoreCivic.
Lansing is one of eight adult state correctional facilities operated by Kansas, according to a 2023 report from the Kansas Legislative Research Department. Kansas's adult correctional facilities house inmates statewide.
Gregg's death also highlights the issue of aging behind bars. That issue includes questions about medical care and management.
