Zavaras Says More Cells Are Not The Answer

For new DOC chief, more cells not the answer
Sentencing reform, reducing recidivism, more efficient parole are goals

Population Crisis

“We have to be very strategic in how we look at the prison population,” Zavaras said in an interview last week.

A crisis or urgent problem, Zavaras says it can be fixed — not by building cells, but by working harder to keep them empty. He and his boss, Ritter, think the looming shortage can be averted by reduced recidivism, more efficient parole, and sentencing reform.

Advocates of criminal-justice reform, long stymied by the administration of former Gov. Bill Owens, are optimistic.

“It’s not only realistic, it’s plausible. It’s very plausible,” said Christie Donner, director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.

“Mr. Zavaras has inherited a situation where they have a significantly growing crisis, they’re out of beds, they have prisoners backed up in jails and the sheriffs are threatening to sue them again,” Donner said.

How did it happen?

The roots of the space shortage date to 1999, the year Zavaras left the DOC. He headed the agency from 1993 to 1999 under former Gov. Roy Romer, and saw the inmate population increase from 9,065 to 14,135. The state spent $465 million on new prisons in the same period.

But Owens’ administration canceled new projects, and in the ensuing years of the recession-fueled budget crisis, no prisons were built. At the same time, population growth in the state and tough sentencing laws drastically increased the prison population.

The DOC also cut $12.4 million in inmate programs, such as substance abuse treatment and prevention and education, and reduced the number of case managers for inmates by 39, Zavaras said.

He sees restoring these positions and programs as essential to cutting recidivism. Nearly half — 49.7 percent — of released inmates are back in prison within three years. Part of the blame falls on the DOC, which releases inmates with $100 in their pockets but little in terms of education or rehabilitation, Zavaras said.

“When you cut programs, you don’t do things to change behavior, and they’re going to repeat the behavior,” Zavaras said.

Zavaras, who was a longtime police officer and police chief in Denver before running the prisons, supports some sentencing reform, such as alternatives to prison for some nonviolent offenders.

He also wants to give parole officers more flexibility in dealing with offenders, including the option of releasing some from parole early if they are toeing the line

Private Prisons

Last year, the DOC contracted with private prison companies to build 3,776 new prison beds.
But the largest of the new prisons, a 1,500-bed facility planned for Ault in northeastern Colorado by Florida-based The GEO Group, is still in question. Voters there must approve any new prison, and the company is demanding a guarantee from the DOC that it will always be full.

“That’s something I would have a lot of problems ever granting,” Zavaras said. “If you give it to one, you’ve got to do it across the board. We conceivably could be sitting with empty space in state prisons while the privates are full.”

The same company recently defaulted on a contract to build a 500-bed prerelease prison in Pueblo. The DOC is preparing to issue another request for proposals for such a prison. Zavaras expects it will be the last new private prison built in Colorado while he is DOC chief.

“I think we are getting to just about the number of inmates I would feel comfortable having in privates,” he said.

“I think they’ve been very good partners here, but I also think you have to continue watching what goes on there very closely to make sure corners aren’t getting cut,” he said.

Zavaras has close ties to the privateprison industry. Since leaving the DOC, he worked as director of western operations for Community Education Centers, the company that runs the Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center prison in Colorado Springs.

Private-prison opponents have questioned if this prior relationship will affect his objectivity.

Said Donner, “During his confirmation hearings, these questions weren’t asked relating to his consulting and employment in the private-prison industry.”

Zavaras, though, said he will not be involved in decisions relating to CEC, and has no plans to take part in the awarding of the contract for the new pre-release prison.

“I don’t see it as a problem. Regardless, I will not have any involvement with them or any business they do with the department,” he said.

Gazette article here