Parole Board Speaks Up

Dave Michaud will be confirmed by the Senate later this week.

Gov. Bill Ritter stopped by Dave Michaud's house in Pueblo West two weeks ago, but it wasn't a social visit to talk about fishing with his old crime-fighting buddy.

Ritter, Denver's former district attorney, was there to convince Michaud, 66, who retired in 1998 as Denver's police chief, to become chairman of Colorado's parole board.

It's a crucial role as the state's new governor grapples with skyrocketing prison costs.

The board toed a hard line throughout the Owens administration. For example, it granted early release to only 9 percent of eligible inmates in 2005. It revoked parole 3,270 times among 5,350 parolees that year, some more than once.

Still, half the parolees were back in prison within three years.

Colorado's prison population now tops 22,500 - at a cost of $27,000 a year for each prisoner - and continues to soar. Ritter faces a tough choice: pay for more prisoners, or for more education and health care. But not both.

The Rocky Mountain News interviewed Michaud and the board's seven members, including departing chief Al Stanley, to get a feel for what they think needs to happen.

To a person, each said Colorado needs more programs for inmates: alcohol and drug treatment, high school classes, anger management, vocational training, sex offender treatment - even simple updates on how the world has changed in the years they've been behind bars.

Ann Imse's Article