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.


Monday, March 14, 2011

Colorado Senate bill would limit inmates' solitary confinement - The Denver Post

Colorado Senate bill would limit inmates' solitary confinement - The Denver Post

The percentage of Colorado inmates with mental health problems who were placed in solitary confinement more than doubled between 1999 and 2008, and many were released from prison without having a chance to readjust to human interaction.

Those findings from a 2008 Department of Corrections report have inspired two Colorado Democrats to pitch legislation aimed at limiting the number of mentally ill inmates who can be put in solitary confinement.

Senate Bill 176, which gets its first hearing today, would require state prisons to have a physician evaluate inmates with such illnesses as bipolar mood disorders or paranoid schizophrenia before they are placed in solitary confinement. It also would limit solitary confinement stays to no more than 30 consecutive days and require that inmates integrate with the general prison population before being released from prison.

The average stay in solitary confinement is 18 months, according to the DOC.


Read more: Colorado Senate bill would limit inmates' solitary confinement - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17608272#ixzz1GZYsEog7
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