Call To Terminate Private Prison Contract

Here is the article posted in the Denver Post from yesterday's press conference. We will be presenting this morning to the House Judiciary Committee at the Capitol.

Colorado state Rep. Buffie McFadyen on Monday called on the state to cancel a private-prison agreement after auditors found that a former top prison official was working on behalf of the company selected to build the prison.

Auditors said the former official launched a prison-consulting business five months before he retired from the department.

McFadyen - one of the legislature's leading critics of state contracts with private prisons - also assailed Geo Group Inc. for seeking a guarantee that the state fill a set number of the 1,500 beds in its proposed facility in Ault.

The Democrat from Pueblo West announced in a news conference at the Capitol that she had sent a letter to Ari Zavaras, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, airing her concerns.

She was joined by two advocacy groups - the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition and Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government.

"The minute the ink was dry on the contract they started demanding both bed guarantees and public financing for the Ault construction," said Christie Donner, executive director of the reform coalition. "That is not negotiating in good faith as far as we're concerned."

The calls for rescinding the contract stem from a November 2006 state auditor's report. At that time, auditors concluded that Nolin Renfrow helped Geo Group prepare its bid to construct and operate the Ault prison.

The audit said Renfrow, the state's former director of prisons, had private business activities that "arguably present a conflict of interest and result in a breach of his fiduciary duty and the public trust."

Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government, said Renfrow took paid sick leave - earning $14,000 - to pursue his private business work on behalf of Geo Group. According to the auditor's report, Renfrow's company could earn as much as $1 million if Geo Group builds the prison.

The Denver Post Article

Greeley Tribune Article here

(excerpt from the Tribune) The Northern Colorado take

DENVER -- Saying GEO Group Inc. can't be trusted, a Pueblo lawmaker asked state officials Monday to rescind a contract with the company to build a private prison in Ault.

Plans for the prison, which would house 1,500 inmates and would be built east of the railroad tracks along U.S. 85, has stalled on two fronts. Ault leaders decided they would not approve the facility until the public voted on it, and GEO wants to change its contract to ensure payment for its beds.

Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, a vocal critic of private prisons, said Monday that the proposed change and other issues regarding GEO's integrity should negate the Ault contract.

"Anybody living in Ault should be concerned that a company that would bid this way on a contract might have a business in their town," she said.

Philip Tidwell, spokesman for the town group Coalition Against Ault Prison, said residents hope no one else bids on the Ault prison if GEO's contract is rescinded.

Pueblo Chieftan (The Southern Colorado take)

..........Though McFadyen already has called for the state to rescind the 2006 contract to GEO, she said she decided to make it official when she heard "rumors" that the company might try to relocate the Ault facility in Pueblo

"Why would we believe that GEO Group would perform in Pueblo in 2007 when they never performed in 2003?" she asked.

She also said the contract award was tainted because it came with the aid of Nolan Renfrow, who helped GEO get the contract while he still was DOC's director of prisons.

McFadyen wasn't alone in her call.

The Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government and the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, also demanded that the contract be rescinded.

"We, too, have no confidence in the integrity of the procurement process," said Christie Donner, executive director of CCJRC, which also is a long-time opponent of private prisons. "Due to GEO's failure to perform on the 2003 contract, we find it impossible that the GEO could have met the statutory requirements" to qualify for another state contract.