Presentation of Private Prison

Yesterday, CCJRC presented to the House Judiciary Committee about our concerns about private prisons in our state. We were joined by the moving testimony of Tracy Masuga whose son had been moved to Oklahoma, Ryan Sherman from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Cherry Trine, whose lawfirm is currently suing CCA. We want to thank them for their testimony.

Critics say Colorado's private prisons are driven by shareholder profits and that, ultimately, society pays when businesses "cut corners" on staffing costs and inmate rehabilitation.

The result is incidents such as a 2004 riot at a CCA prison in Crowley County, witnesses told a House Judiciary Committee hearing on private prisons Tuesday.

State Department of Corrections officials had to come to the rescue of 33 private prison officers who lost control of 1,112 inmates.

The state fined CCA $126,000 in June for short-staffing at Crowley and another facility after the state auditor blasted CCA for having a staff-to-inmate ratio that was one-seventh of a state prison at the time of the Crowley riot.

Rocky Mountain News Article

"I'm unconvinced that they're more effective, and I'm unconvinced they actually are cheaper than state-run facilities," Carroll said. "But anything we do in the way of reform is going to involve them, so we need to have a better understanding of how they operate." Pueblo Chieftain

The nation's largest private-prison company said Tuesday it has helped the state avoid $646 million in construction costs over the past decade.

Executives from Corrections Corporation of America, which houses about 20 percent of all inmates sent to prison in Colorado, added that they pay $40 million per year to 900 employees in the state.

The company disclosed the financial data during a special hearing by state lawmakers into the costs and benefits of relying on privately owned prisons.

While the company touted its economic impact, opponents of private prisons talked about the human cost. Tracy Masuga, whose son was moved from a Colorado-based prison to a CCA facility in Oklahoma in December, said she can no longer visit her son every other week, as she has for the past six years. "We won't be able to see him very often," said Masuga, who choked back tears as she began her testimony, noting that it now costs at least $300 per trip to see her son.

The Denver Post