Colorado lawmakers consider measures to lower state's prison population
Three months after the legislative Joint Budget Committee approved emergency funding for nearly 1,000 more beds in Colorado's prisons, the system is already near capacity again.
Gov. Jared Polis asked the committee for up to $200 million to reopen a private prison. It set aside about $6 million to partially reopen the facility but, it will cost another $40 million a year to operate it. That's a non-starter for many Democrats who have introduced bills aimed at lowering the prison population instead.
State analysis shows that while admissions have been constant, releases are down.
State Rep. Jennifer Bacon says the Parole Board has released only 29 inmates this year out of nearly 240 who are past their parole eligibility date.
"They still have to go through a process. If they are not ready to be paroled or there is not a placement, they won't go. But they're not even entering the process," she said.
Bacon is sponsoring a bill that would require the state to release some lower-risk inmates when the prison population falls below 4% of capacity for 30 days.
Right now, releases don't kick in until the prison is at 3% of capacity. Under the bill, the department would also have to report its capacity to the General Assembly every month.
"This is yet another attempt to change the amount of time that someone spends in prison, which in effect changes what we promised victims and survivors in terms of what their offender would face," says Jessica Dotter with the Colorado District Attorneys' Council.
She says the prison population has decreased by nearly 2,000 inmates over the last 20 years and the population is near capacity because the state has closed seven prisons.
Bacon says inmates are being held longer. There were 300 fewer paroles last year and 750 sex offenders are on a waiting list for treatment.
"We can't say that you can go when have treatment and then not provide it and then wonder why we are backlogged," she said. "More people are also aging in prison and the older you are, the more expensive you are."
Dotter says 67% of Colorado's prison population has been convicted of violent crimes.
"These aren't low-level drug offenders. The reforms that Colorado has done and that the DAs have been part of throughout the last 10 years have ensured that low-level drug offenders are not the ones in prison," Dotter said.
Bacon's bill would also set up a task force to study how to better manage the prison population going forward.
Democrats have introduced another bill that allows inmates convicted of lower-level felonies to earn two additional days each month toward early release.
Bacon notes the Department of Corrections receives almost all its money from the general fund so more money for corrections means less for education, transportation, and Medicaid.
The bills passed the Senate are in committee Tuesday in the House.
