Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Sunday, September 27, 2009

Prison Contract Changes hands

Alaskan Dispatch
After 15 years of managing Alaska prisoners housed out-of-state, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has lost its contract to Cornell Corrections.

Cornell's will charge the state about $19,446,000 a year to house 900 prisoners, while CCA's plan would have cost $18,724,000 -- $722,000 less a year.

Either way the state will realize savings over the $20,669,000 it now pays through a contract with CCA.

The 770 inmates serving time at CCA's Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona will be moved late this year to Cornell's Hudson Correctional Facility in Colorado, a 1,250-bed center now under construction. The move -- via special U.S. Marshals Service planes -- is expected to cost Alaska more than $200,000, Alaska Department of Corrections spokesman Richard Schmitz said.

The Department of Corrections denied a protest of the award filed by CCA attorneys, who said they won't launch further appeal.

In the protest, CCA attorneys Charles Cole -- a former Alaska Attorney General -- and Stephen Williams argued that Cornell Corrections of Alaska lacks the basic experience the state requires, and that a preference system for Alaska-based bidders was misused.

Cornell's bid was more costly than CCA's for the three-year term, but a proposal evaluation panel awarded Cornell's plan more points because of the company's status as an Alaska entity.

Points matter as a committee rates the proposals in several categories. According to CCA's protest, the company gained more points than Cornell in five other evaluation categories.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The whole crux of the article spells, slavery. I think that anyone who makes a nickel profit from an inmate is guilty and should be prosecuted for slavery. That could include quite a few Colorado officials. djw

Unknown said...

Why don't they house their inmates in facilities in Alaska? Certainly there is no lack of space in Alaska for building a prison. Also, families would be more able to visit inmates. What is the reason for deliberately housing their inmates thousands of miles away from home?

Anonymous said...

Barney, I wish I could answer your questions with knowledge. I have to go on a guess. It's simple. Importing & exporting. These prisoners are treated like commodities, not human beings.

I am going to research the Constitution thoroughly regarding the slavery issue that is being ignored. When George W. Bush said "the Constitution is just a go*dam* piece of paper," many dictating characters jumped on it along with him.

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djw. Aside from the 8th amendment to the Constitution, do you have the law that directly targets for-profit prisons working against the law of the land? Thanks.

I will continue to research.

Anonymous said...

Anonomous, look at the Colorado State constitution. I believe it tells you, government cant use people for profit! djw