Colorado's Prison System Isn't Working For Anyone

Guest Commentary
October 10, 2007

Colorado's prison system is like an out-of-control carousel. In 2005, for example, 9,800 new inmates got onboard just as 8,600 parolees stepped off and headed for home -- up from 1,400 in 1980.

Nowadays Colorado towns and cities are struggling to cope with the special services needed by this ever growing number of new parolees returning home each year.

America's lock 'em up drug laws are keeping this merry-go-round spinning faster and faster. Nationally, the portion of inmates leaving state prisons after serving time for nonviolent drug offenses has shot up from 11 percent in 1985 to 37 percent in 2005. Here is how this trend plays out in Colorado.

Colorado prisons held only 2,600 men and women in 1980. By 2006 that number grew to 22,000. Today Colorado's incarceration rate -- the number of state prisoners per every 100,000 population -- is 466. In 1980, it was only 96.

While the enforcement of federal and state drug laws has not lowered the availability or use of illegal drugs, those laws have done more harm than good for drug users, taxpayers and local communities.

« Drug Users. Instead of dealing with drug abuse as a health issue in education and treatment centers, drug laws have sent thousands of otherwise law abiding citizens to prison. But prison time can backfire.

Life behind bars is an ideal environment for non-violent inmates to become socially alienated and to learn new criminal skills from other inmates. Upon their release, many drug users are likely to pose a greater risk to society than when they entered prison.

« Taxpayers. Colorado's prison merry-go-round would stop turning if not for the generous contribution of more than $460 million each year from state taxpayers. And nationally it costs much more to enforce drugs laws that don't do what the lawmakers say they were intended to do. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Washington estimates that U.S. taxpayers are spending more than $1 billion a year just to lock up 33,600 state and 10,700 federal marijuana offenders. Most of these people are peaceful, motivated citizens. They do not belong behind bars.

« Parolees. Once their prison phase ends, parolees face an uphill struggle as they try to put their lives back together. Trouble finding jobs and a place to live are common problems and force many ex-convicts to seek help from local agencies.

But instead of fixing the root cause of this problem, federal and state officials are turning to churches and social service agencies to salvage their failed policies. As one New York correctional officer remarked recently, "Our dump-'em-on-the-street with $40 is not working. We need help."

Faith-based service grants from Uncle Sam are already being used by communities to cope with newly released inmates. The Council of State Governments, the National Association of Counties and the Urban Institute are all addressing re-entry issues. And the push is on to get United Way and Big Sister/Big Brother organizations involved. Trouble is, those efforts address only a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.

What to do? About one-half of all U.S. inmates are nonviolent offenders. Would it not make a lot more sense to solve the returning prisoner crisis by drastically cutting the number of nonviolent people cycled through Colorado's prisons and sent back to their hometowns every year?

Policy makers in Denver need to stop sending non-violent offenders to prison and increase the use of nonprison punishments, including treatment for drug abusers and support services for other nonviolent offenders. This would drastically slow down Colorado's prison merry-go-round, save taxpayers a lot of money and shrink by up to one-half the number of ex-inmates headed back to local communities each year.

Ronald Fraser, Ph.D., writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project, a Washington-based civil liberties organization. E-mail him at fraserr@erols.com
The Greeley Tribune