This story was first published at Colorado Newsline.
DENVER | A request by Colorado prisons to expand capacity by 900 beds was denied Wednesday by state lawmakers.
The Colorado Department of Corrections’ male inmate population is “much higher” than the current budget anticipated, according to a memo from nonpartisan legislative staff. It is expected to continue growing even as the state is required to make an extra effort to reduce its inmate population under the requirements of a 2018 law activated for the first time last year when the state prison vacancy rate fell below 3% for 30 consecutive days.
Legislators on the Joint Budget Committee expressed concern that the department is not making an effort to reduce the prison population and instead is asking for more beds while the department is struggling to fully staff prisons. State Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat, suggested there are hundreds of people in state custody “who don’t need to be there because they’re not dangerous.”
“I understand we have people there. We need to feed them. We need to take care of them. We need to get them medical care,” Amabile said. “But until there is a plan, or plans, to address why the releases are lagging the admissions, and why that’s changed, and what we can do about that, it’s very hard for me to support more beds.”
Amabile expressed concern that the department has not sought any legislative solutions to improve its population struggles or additional funding for treatment programs that would make certain people in custody eligible for parole. Justin Brakke, a legislative budget and policy analyst, said the state “should consider legislation to either reduce admissions or increase releases or both” if it does not want to keep funding more prison beds.
The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group, and Colorado WINS, the union representing state workers, urged the committee to deny an increase in prison beds. Hilary Glasgow, executive director of Colorado WINS, said the union has never opposed a request for additional prison beds and that it is “not a position we take lightly.”
“Limited prison capacity is of course a challenge for staff, but we are in the midst of a staffing crisis that’s compromising safety for our members, the incarcerated population, and the public, and adding more beds is only going to make things much worse,” Glasgow said in a statement.
The DOC is not underfunded, rather it is underperforming, according to the coalition’s deputy director, Kyle Giddings.
“At a time when the state is about to make deep cuts to higher education, healthcare, and many other programs Coloradans depend on, a moral budget would invest in people and communities — not in broken bureaucracies,” Giddings said in a statement.
The coalition is supporting legislation yet to be introduced that intends to strengthen the 2018 prison population management law.
State Rep. Kyle Brown, a Louisville Democrat, said during the committee hearing he wants an explanation from the department or the state parole board about why parole releases have dropped. He wants a more comprehensive plan from the department to better manage the prison population instead of just increasing the number of beds.
The committee approved 50% of the department’s request for funding to pay local jails for the beds they use to house people awaiting intake to a state prison, as well as 50% of its request for medical care. The jail backlog improved after the committee approved a supplemental request for additional beds in September, but it went back up to higher levels shortly thereafter.
State Rep. Rick Taggart, a Grand Junction Republican who voted in favor of additional beds, said he was worried that the committee’s denial of additional prison beds will put a greater burden on the county jails already struggling to house people awaiting intake to the department. State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Weld County Republican, also voted in favor of additional beds.
The DOC will be able to ask the committee to reconsider its decision on the supplemental requests during its meeting on Monday.