State lawmakers grill top brass at the Colorado Department of Corrections

For the second time four months, the Colorado Department of Corrections is asking lawmakers for more money.

The request comes as the state's prisons are overflowing with inmates, and the department is over budget by millions of dollars.

The DOC received $1.2 billion for the current fiscal year which started in July. In September, it came back for another $3 million. Now, it says it needs $35 million more due in part to a growing prison population.

Prison officials told the House and Senate Judiciary Committees they're nearly 800 beds short and are using county jails -- which are far more expensive -- for overflow.

State analysis shows the increase in inmates is due primarily to a decrease in discretionary paroles. DOC says it's considering leasing two private prisons that closed or building a new prison.

That was a non-starter with lawmakers like Democratic state Rep. Lorena Garcia.

"Why then would we not be prioritizing figuring out how to get the staffing that we need to get these people out of being incarcerated when they're eligible to instead of focusing on how do we keep a private prison contracted with the state?" Garcia said.

Lawmakers also want to know why many inmates weren't getting the treatment they need to be released.

Democratic state Sen. Judy Amabile says there are about 750 sex offenders on a waiting list for treatment.

"Many of those people cannot be paroled until they've had that treatment," Amabile said.

Prison officials say inflation is also driving up the cost of everything from laundry to food service. They asked for an additional $16 million for inmate health care.

Amabile and other Democrats on the Joint Budget Committee refused to approve DOC's request for additional beds.

"What I want is for the executive branch to take a holistic look at what's going wrong," she said.

Republican state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, who also sits on the budget committee, voted for the increased funding and said it's a matter of safety.

"When you start double bunking, you start bringing in sleigh beds -- things of that nature. ... you have a workforce shortage. You are starting to create a safety issue in this facility. And it seems to me like the Democrats are just letting that go by because they (just want) people let out," Kirkmeyer said.

Amabile says she's also worried about safety, but she says -- before the state approves money for more beds -- she wants to know why the wait list for treatment is so long, why paroles are down by more than 300 inmates this year, and why fewer inmates are being admitted to community corrections.

She says the age of Colorado's prison population is rising, with the average inmate 40 years old. She says perhaps DOC should look at releasing elderly inmates who no longer pose a risk or sending them to secure nursing homes.

The budget request comes as lawmakers make cuts to programs like Medicaid to plug a $400 million hole in this year's budget and $850 million shortfall next year.