Prisons could take another hit

Pueblo Chieftain
DENVER — Colorado’s declining prison population has imperiled two private prisons in Southeastern Colorado, where the economy already is reeling from the recent closure of a state-run prison.
  Savings from the pending closure of another state-run prison in Southern Colorado could be used to prop up the for-profit ventures.
  Corrections Corporation of America, which operates Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and Bent County Correctional Facility in Las Animas, has notified the state that it needs a subsidy or it will start shedding jobs, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff Roxane White said Wednesday.
  “CCA has said that if we don’t figure something out they will be in a situation where they have to close a prison,” she said.
  Similar threats loom at Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, which also is operated by CCA, and Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs, operated by Community Education Centers Inc., according to White.
  “At both the CCA facilities and Cheyenne Mountain, up to 20 percent of their beds are empty,” she said. “They are looking at the need to make staffing reductions.”
  White confirmed that diverting the estimated $4.5 million in savings the state expects to realize next year from the pending closure of Colorado State Penitentiary II in Canon City is one option, but she doubts that would be enough to satisfy the private prison companies.
  “It’s not enough to cover it,” she said. “In this case, we need in the neighborhood of  $10 (million) to $15 million to keep the (private) prisons all operational.”
  Ideally, White said, any action by the private prison companies could be postponed while the state conducts a thorough study of the factors driving the declining prison population, whether the trend is likely to continue and how the state can best manage its resources in light of the findings.
  A bill launching that study has been approved by the Joint Budget Committee and is in the process of being drafted.
  “We are trying to buy some time to really look hard at the data, and work intensively with communities to help mitigate the impact,” White said. “For any community, time to plan is really important.”
  Bent County still is dusting itself off from the closure this year of Fort Lyon Correctional Facility, where the 204 displaced employees represented one in seven people in the county’s workforce. Prospects are improving for the area after the state announced proceeds from a lawsuit would be devoted to creating a transitional housing and treatment center for military veterans. Other possibilities for the site also remain possible.
    “We have formed a significant fiscal and economic impact with the closure of Fort Lyon, and I don’t think that would be first on the list of things to repeat,” said Henry Sobanet, the governor’s budget director, during a briefing to the Joint Budget Committee.

Drug Reform Bill Favors Treatment

Grand Junction Free Press
Politicians trying to save people from the consequences of their own stupidity is itself stupid. The effort breeds invasive, Nanny State laws that undermine individual responsibility. The ultimate effect is to encourage stupidity rather than curb it.

Whether we care about personal health, responsible living, or responsible governance, what we need above all is a people capable of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for their own actions. A government that attempts to do people's thinking for them undermines responsible action.

Politicians trying to save people from the consequences of their own stupidity by threatening to destroy their lives with felony convictions is outright insanity. Yet that is precisely how Colorado law currently treats low-level drug offenders.

Thankfully, Senate Bill 163 would bring a touch of sanity to Colorado's drug laws. Fox31 reports the bill would “reduce the crime of possession of 4 grams or less of a schedule I or II controlled substance or 2 grams or less of methamphetamine from a felony to a misdemeanor.” The bill pertains to possession only, not distribution.

Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) and a supporter of the bill, explained the measure would alter criminal penalties for “everything from heroin and cocaine to methamphetamines,” drugs whose abuse often involves serious addictions. The bill would not impact marijuana, she added.

Those tempted to think of this as a weepy leftist “soft on crime” bill should consider that two of the bill's sponsors, Shawn Mitchell and Don Beezley, are perhaps the legislature's two most stalwart defenders of economic liberty.

In a remarkably personal moment, Mitchell said during a media conference (as reported by Fox31): “My younger brother has been a meth addict for nearly a decade. He's has been in jail in more than one state, he has a felony conviction. He got a treatment program in a county jail in Utah that helped him see things differently and my family is filled with love and hope for his turnaround.”

Rep. Claire Levy, a Boulder Democrat (if we may repeat ourselves), also talked sense: “Going to prison does not help someone with a drug problem. They don't get treatment in prison, and it's a tremendous waste of taxpayer resources. This bill is not only about being smarter on crime, but it's about saving taxpayer money and devoting those resources to better purposes.”

In an email alert, CCJRC added, “A felony conviction is a lifetime punishment, resulting in significantly reduced ability to obtain housing and employment, the basics of productive life. Low-level drug possession does not warrant a lifetime of diminished opportunity.”

Bill To Drug Test Welfare Recipients Dies

The Denver Post

A bill to require welfare recipients to take drug tests in order to get benefits died in the state House today in the face of apparent bipartisan opposition.
House Bill 1046, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, would have required anyone applying for benefits under the federally funded Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, or TANF, to first pay the $45 cost of taking a drug test.
Those who passed the drug test would have been reimbursed by the state and could get TANF benefits. Those who failed, though, would have been denied reimbursement and any benefits and would not have been able to reapply for TANF again for a year.
"If you have enough money to buy drugs, why do you need public assistance?" asked Sonnenberg.
Most Democrats had argued that the bill would treat the poor like criminals and that it made poverty a presumption of guilt.
Democrats already had added an amendment in committee that required state lawmakers and statewide elected officials to also take drug tests before getting their pay and benefits. But House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, wanted to add another amendment to make politicians who flunk drug tests pay a fine equal to a year's worth of TANF benefits for an average recipient.
That amendment failed because the Republican-led House approved another that said drug testing for politicians would have to occur in October, just before a general election.
Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, said losing an election because of a dirty drug test is "the ultimate penalty."
But Republican support for the bill was not rock-solid.
The bill was on its second-reading stage in the House, a step typically marked by a voice vote in the chamber and later followed by a recorded vote on third reading.
That's not what happened.
When the voice vote was held and there were "ayes" from the Republican side and "noes" from the Democratic side, Rep. Brian Delgrosso, R-Loveland, who was in the chair, announced the bill had failed, even though it wasn't obvious that one side outweighed the other.

Read more: Bill to drug test welfare recipients dies in Colorado House in second reading - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20283105/drug-test-welfare-bill-dies-colorado-house-second#ixzz1qZ2OIXuB
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Lower Drug Penalties CPR

Colorado Public Radio
What should the punishment be for possessing a small amount of heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine?  A bill moving through the state legislature would downgrade the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.  And as Colorado Public Radio’s Megan Verlee reports, it's raising a lot of debate about what's best to help drug users and society.
[The following is a transcript of Megan Verlee's report]


REPORTER MEGAN VERLEE: Sixteen years ago, Pam Clifton’s husband died unexpectedly, leaving her alone with two small children.  In the midst of her shock and grief, Clifton says she started to “self-medicate.”
PAM CLIFTON: "A short time later I was arrested for a small amount of drugs.  I was given a six year prison sentence."
REPORTER: Clifton told her story to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.  After her arrest, she suffered a miscarriage, and lost her rights to her other children.... All over less than a hundred dollars worth of drugs.
CLIFTON: "I am a felon, and I carry that stigma and I’ll carry it for the rest of my life.  And I know that this bill would have been in existence in 1996, you would have saved my family."
REPORTER: Clifton now works for the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, one of several groups pushing for the bill.  It would lighten the penalties for possessing drugs, making it a misdemeanor to have up to four grams of most illicit substances.  Any money saved by not sending people to prison would go into drug treatment programs.  Carmelita Muniz represents the treatment industry.  She says that change wouldn’t just help get people off drugs, it would help them get on with their lives.
CARMELITA MUNIZ:  "That felony stays with a person.  I mean, I get calls all the time from folks saying, “help me! who will hire me? who will house me? where will I live?” Because of that felony, they continue to have barriers."
REPORTER:  Opponents of the bill say they’re sympathetic to its goals, but that this is the wrong way to achieve them. Deputy Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein says it’s the threat of a felony charge that motivates drug users to agree to treatment.
DAN RUBINSTEIN: "We all know a felony is a big deal.  We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think a felony was a big deal.  Every defense attorney knows it, every DA knows it, every judge knows it, and every defendant knows it.  And the possibility of a felony is a big motivating factor."
REPORTER:  Rubinstein also points out that judges already have a lot of discretion over whether to send people to prison for drug possession, and they rarely do.  There are currently only about 200 people in Colorado prisons who wouldn’t be there if this law was in effect.  And then there’s the matter of deterrence.  Republican Senator Ellen Roberts of Durango wondered what downgrading penalties will do to prevention efforts.
ELLEN ROBERTS:  "The question is, what message are we sending out to our young people, to young parents about, what is the consequence of their behavior?"
REPORTER: Shawn Mitchell, the bill’s Republican sponsor, answered:
SHAWN MITCHELL: "The possibility of a prison sentence isn’t shown to be an effective deterrent.  It might intuitively feel like it, but once someone is on that path, the consequences don’t loom very large in their rational thinking."
REPORTER:  Lighter penalties for drug addicts might seems like exactly the kind of issue that would bring out the usual law-and-order versus bleeding-heart battlelines, but it hasn’t.  While Shawn Mitchell is one of the legislature’s more conservative Republicans, he’s also part of an ongoing, and very bipartisan, effort to reform the criminal justice system and reduce the prison population.  Colorado isn’t alone in that; many states have lowered drug penalties.  But not everyone is sold on the idea.  Senator Roberts says this bill goes too far too fast.
ROBERTS: "I think we owe it to everybody involved to thoughtfully work through this.  And just because X number of other states have proceeded down a particular path, the question is, what’s happening in Colorado?"
REPORTER:  The bill passed its first vote and has one more committee hearing before reaching the full Senate.

Senate Panel Advances Drug Bill

The Denver Post

Tears flowed Wednesday in a Senate committee when a former meth user talked about how her husband's unexpected death led to her addiction, a prison sentence and foster care for her children.
Pam Clifton, who now works for the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, testified in favor of a bill that would reduce the penalty for the crime of possession of drugs from a felony to a misdemeanor.
The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 5-2 vote, with two Republicans, Ellen Roberts of Durango and Steve King of Grand Junction, voting "no." Republican Kevin Lundberg of Berthoud voted with the four Democrats.
"It wasn't necessary to put me in prison. It was just the easiest thing to do," said Clifton, 50, who served seven years.
She estimated she had $100 worth of drugs on her when she was arrested, but the state spent thousands locking her up and providing foster care for her daughter and son, who were 7 and 4, respectively, when she went to prison.
Supporters of Senate Bill 163 said the goal is to offer treatment for addicts who often find that a felony conviction sentences them to a lifetime of employment struggles. Drug dealing or manufacturing would remain a felony.
But critics said the bill would overwhelm county jails, and recent sentencing reforms need more time to work.
The bill has an unlikely coalition of sponsors: Sens. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, and Pat Steadman, D-Denver, and Reps. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, and Don Beezley, R-Broomfield. They represent some of the most conservative and liberal members of their chambers.
Mitchell, who earlier revealed he has a brother with a felony conviction because of a meth addiction, said he was impressed with the "thoughtful" testimony from both sides.
"I'm encouraged that this will help us help people more than punish people," he said.
But King said the Mesa County sheriff had to lay off 33 people last year and the bill would result in more county prisoners — a concern of other sheriffs.
"The counties are not any more flush with money than the state is," said Peg Ackerman, lobbyist for the County Sheriffs of Colorado.
Dan Rubinstein, the district attorneys' representative on a drug task force, also argued against the bill. He said defense attorneys he's talked to say the threat of a felony is more effective than a misdemeanor conviction, and prosecutors fear it would undercut sentencing reforms passed in recent years.

Read more: Colorado Senate panel advances bill to lower some penalties for drugs - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_20278207/senate-panel-advances-bill-lower-some-penalties-drugs#ixzz1qW4wC3hp
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Misdemeanor Bill Backer Disputes John Suthers

Westword
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers is currently in Washington, D.C. for U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the Affordable Care Act. But in his absence, his office registered his objections to Senate Bill 12-163, which would, among other things, make possession of meth a misdemeanor rather than a class-six felony. However, a supporter of the measure thinks his criticism is off-base.
Suthers is chairman of the Colorado Methamphetamine Task Force, which unanimously voted to oppose the bill during a March 23 meeting. Why? According to an AG's office release, the legislation, which would cover other Schedule I and Schedule II drugs on top of meth, "seeks to solve a problem that largely does not exist: first-time drug offenders being sentenced to prison. The legislation instead would only eliminate prison sentences for a small percentage of offenders.

​"State statistics show that 51.71 percent of those charged with a class-six felony drug possession are given a deferred judgment, which permits a defendant to avoid the effects of a felony conviction by completing a period of supervision and treatment," the release continues. "The high success rate of offenders each year is motivated almost exclusively by the desire to avoid having a felony conviction on their records. By removing this motivation and making the sanction a misdemeanor, fewer people will engage in treatment or successfully address their substance abuse issues." These arguments don't persuade Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, as well as a strong supporter of SB 163, a bipartisan bill sponsored in the Senate by Democrat Pat Steadman and Republican Shawn Mitchell.
"We've been working on drug policy reform for over a decade," Donner says, "and this seemed to be the next logical step -- to really get serious about redesigning our approach with regard to low-level drug offenders convicted of drug possession by lowering the sentences, capturing the cost-savings from corrections and investing it into treatment. And that's all this bill does. It isn't looking at making any changes to drug distribution laws or anything like that.
"Research is really clear that treatment is a much better strategy to reduce addiction, and the crimes associated with addiction, than putting someone into prison," she adds. "And there's actually no research that supports the position that threatening someone with a felony conviction is a motivator for them to stay in treatment. Addiction, by definition, is to continue to do a specific behavior -- in this case, using illegal drugs -- despite negative consequences. So the position is actually counter-intuitive. Addicts aren't sitting there thinking, 'I'll stop using drugs if they put me in prison, but I won't stop using drugs if they put me in jail.' And that's the main change in the bill."


How so? "Under a class-six felony, you can be sentenced to prison for a maximum of eighteen months," Donner explains. "And if you're convicted of a class-one misdemeanor, you can be sentenced to jail for a maximum of eighteen months. So from a public safety perspective, if people are concerned that somebody with long-term drug addiction poses a particular safety risk, they can put them in jail for as long as they could put them in prison. But this bill actually offers cost savings for people not being put in prison, and instead being put into treatment. We're not saying our preferred course of action is for all people who would have gone to prison to go to jail, but jail is still an option." The change wouldn't affect a huge number of people. "We have data that says 200 people went to prison last year on a class-six felony," Donner notes. But the impact could still be substantial, she maintains: "It costs $32,000 a year to incarcerate someone in prison. So for every thirty people we don't put in prison, that's about a million dollars to put into treatment."
Such figures clearly haven't changed Suthers's mind, and Donner concedes that "I don't know where law enforcement is yet" when it comes to support for the bill. Not that she thinks police or other agencies should fear the measure. "This is a slight rebalancing, not decriminalization -- and it's not going soft. This is about research-based strategies to reduce drug addiction and drug-related crime.
"We keep hearing that we need to have the felony hammer to hang over people's heads. But if that was a magic solution, as the attorney general indicates, then nobody would be using drugs on probation, or on parole, or on community corrections. But they do, because that's the nature of addiction. So we're spending a lot of money on these people in the wrong way."
Here's a copy of the bill.

ACTION ALERT ! Contact Senate Judiciary

inShare

            March 20, 2012           
         
            

 

ACTION ALERT

 

BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO REDUCE DRUG ADDICTION AND IMPRISONMENT TO BE HEARD IN SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28^TH AT 1:30PM, Senate Committee Hearing Room 356, State Capitol, Denver

 

Please contact the following Senators and Urge Their Support of SB 163

 

Senate Bill 12-163 was introduced by state Senators Shawn Mitchell (R-Broomfield) and Pat Steadman (D-Denver) and Representatives Don Beezley (R-Broomfield) and Claire Levy (D-Boulder) in a bipartisan effort to promote a more effective and humane approach to reducing drug addiction and the over-use of imprisonment.

Specifically, SB 163 would:

• reduce from a class 6 felony to a class 1 misdemeanor the crime of “simple possession” which is possession of less than 4 grams of a schedule I or II controlled substance (like cocaine, crack, heroin) or possession of less than 2 grams of methamphetamine
• reduce from a class 4 felony to a class 6 felony the crime of possession of over 4 grams of a schedule I or II controlled substance or more than 2 grams of methamphetamine
• require savings in corrections be reinvested into substance abuse treatment

SB 163 does not make any changes related to drug distribution offenses. If there is evidence that even small quantities of drugs are possessed with the intent to distribute, prosecutors can still file a felony charge of drug distribution at any quantity of drugs.

SB 163 is also co-sponsored by Senators Aguilar (D-Denver), Cadman (R-Colorado Springs), Grantham (R-Canon City), Guzman (D-Denver), Jahn (D-Wheat Ridge), Neville (R-Littleton), Spence (R-Centennial) and Representatives Barker (R-Colorado Springs), DelGrosso (R-Loveland), Ferrandino (D-Denver), Massey (R-Poncha Springs), McCann (D-Denver), Nikkel (R-Loveland), Singer (D-Longmont), and Vigil (D-Fort Garland)

The bill also has the backing of diverse organizations including the Independence Institute, Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Foundation, Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition, Pendulum Fund, Drug Policy Alliance-Colorado, Youth Transformation Restorative Services, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Harm Reduction Action Center, Coloradans Against the Death Penalty, Colorado CURE, Colorado Providers Association, It Takes A Village, the Colorado Behavioral Health Council, the Colorado Prison Law Project, and the Mile-Hi Council Behavioral Services.

SB 163 needs our support!

CCJRC is asking its coalition partners and allies throughout the state to support SB 163.  The District Attorney’s Council and Attorney General John Suthers will oppose SB 163 so we need to demonstrate strong community support. This is a common sense and humane approach to addressing addiction through the hope and tools of recovery rather than the threat and fear of incarceration in prison.  The average annual cost of incarceration is $32,000 per person.

Please contact the following members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge their support.

Chair: Sen. Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora), Capitol: 303-866-4879, morgan.carroll.senate@state.co.us
Vice-Chair: Sen Lucia Guzman (D-Denver), Capitol: 303-866-4862, lucia.guzman.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) Capitol: 303-866-4878, angela.giron.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Steve King (R-Mesa County) Capitol: 303-866-3077, steve.king.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Kevin Lundberg (R-Berthoud) Capitol: (303)866-4853, kevin@kevinlundberg.com
Sen. Jeanne Nicholson (D-Black Hawk) Capitol: 303-866-4873, jeanne.nicholson.senate@state.co.us
Senator Ellen Roberts (R-Durango) Capitol Phone: 303-866-4884, ellen.roberts.senate@state.co.us
If your organization would like to join the list of supporters, please contact pam@ccjrc.org
Click here to read the full text of SB 163 at

BACKGROUND
In the fall of 2011, the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) analyzed data provided by the Division of Criminal Justice on drug cases in Colorado from August 2010 – November 2011. This data demonstrated that, of ALL drug offenders sentenced to prison, 60% (310 people) were convicted of drug possession at an average cost of $32,000 per inmate per year.

In 2009, CCJRC hired national expert Roger Przbylski (RKC Group, Lakewood, Colorado) to review the research available on effective drug policy. The following are key findings from his report entitled, Correctional and Sentencing Reform for Drug Offenders: Research Findings on Selected Key Issues:

• Research has produced clear and convincing evidence that substance abuse treatment reduces alcohol and drug use and crime.

• Studies that have examined the monetary costs and benefits of incarcerating drug offenders have produced clear and consistent evidence that imprisonment of drug offenders is not a cost-effective use of public resources and that substance abuse treatment provides a greater return on tax dollars than incarceration.

• A large body of scientific evidence indicates that the incarceration of drug offenders does not have a significant deterrent effect on drug use.  In fact, our enhanced understanding of the science of addiction helps explain why the threat or experience of incarceration has so little impact on chronic abusers.  The repeated use of addictive drugs eventually changes how the brain functions.  These brain changes affect natural inhibition and reward centers causing the addict to use drugs in spite of the adverse health, social and legal consequences.

THE RAND Corp. study “Controlling Cocaine: Supply Versus Demand Programs” found that each dollar spent on treatment issues reduces the cost of crime and lost productivity by $7.46, while traditional domestic drug enforcement (arrest, seizure and incarceration) returns just 52 cents.  Researchers for the conservative American Enterprise Institute concur stating “treatment of heavy users is a far more cost effective policy at the margin than any kind of enforcement.”

A felony conviction is a lifetime punishment, resulting in significantly reduced ability to obtain housing and employment, the basics of productive life.  Low-level drug possession does not warrant a lifetime of diminished opportunity.

Close to 20 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government have some level of schedule I or II controlled substances classified as a misdemeanor offense. The states differ on quantity and structuring of offenses.  Other states are currently considering similar changes.

 

Christie Donner, Executive Director

Pamela Clifton, Communications Coordinator

Ellen Toomey-Hale, Finance and Development Coordinator

John Riley, Coalition Coordinator

P.S.  Please donate today or consider joining our Freedom Fighters with a small monthly donation!

Obligation for CSPII stretches into next decade - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local News

Obligation for CSPII stretches into next decade - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local News
DENVER — Since 2008, the state of Colorado has spent $82.6 million to build and furnish Colorado State Penitentiary II in Canon City, the state’s newest prison, which the Department of Corrections announced last week will close early next year.
But that’s not half of it.
Between next year and 2021, the state owes $137.8 million for construction of the prison that has been open for a mere year and a half and utilized to about one-third of its capacity, according to the governor’s budget office.
“You can look back and say, ‘Gosh, we shouldn’t have done that,’ all you want, but we did do it,” said Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, who serves on the Joint Budget Committee. “And we’re going to pay for it.”
Budget committee member Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, voted for a $10.8 million appropriation in 2010 to open the prison.
“I think there’s a lot of concern about the future debt on this facility,” he said. “We were heavily lobbied by DOC a couple years ago to open it.”
The prison system estimates that the state will save $4.5 million in fiscal year 2012-13 and $13.6 million the following year by mothballing the prison. But lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee said policy, not thriftiness, is driving the closure.
The Department of Corrections expects to retain all of the more than 250 employees of the prison, so Lambert said the savings are relatively paltry. He said the true value of the closure is that it advances the state’s shifting philosophy about how to manage the administrative-segregation offenders that CSPII housed in solitary confinement.
“What return were we getting for having so many people in ad-seg for so long?” Lambert said. “There has to be some reward. I’ve been very skeptical of this. Just the sheer number of offenders they classified as ad-seg was bipolar.”
An independent review of administrative-segregation within the Colorado penal system last year found that 7 percent of the offender population was in solitary confinement, while the national average was 1-2 percent. The report also revealed that the number of inmates in administrative segregation was climbing while the overall population was declining.
The report also exposed that mentally ill inmates increasingly were being warehoused in administrative segregation. The Department of Corrections corroborated the report’s findings that in 1999 just 10 percent of the inmates in administrative segregation were mentally ill, but by 2010 the mentally ill represented 41 percent of the prisoners in administrative segregation.
In retrospect, Lambert laments the state’s reliance on administrative segregation.
“It’s regrettable that we committed to that policy,” he said.
But the closure of CSPII illustrates the state’s move away from administrative segregation. Tom Clements, executive director of corrections, has adopted an approach that emphasizes therapy and treatment to prepare offenders for the transition from administrative segregation into the general prison population, and ultimately into society — another failing identified in the independent report issued last year.
It uncovered that the average length of stay in administrative segregation for an offender was two years. “However, about 40 percent of the offenders are released from administrative segregation directly into the community,” the report said.
The Joint Budget Committee authorized two bills last week with CSPII in mind. They are expected to be introduced soon. One would formally close the prison. The second would launch a study into prison operations and smart use of resources, given the decline in prison populations that has exceeded the state’s wildest expectations.
“The old problem that we couldn’t build prisons fast enough is no longer with us, at least not at the present and not for the foreseeable future,” said budget committee member Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver. “We’ll always need prisons, but hopefully not as many. I like to describe it as the challenge of ‘right-sizing’ our prisons.”
He would not rule out more prison closures in the years immediately ahead.
“I wouldn’t want my town’s economic future hooked to a prison,” Steadman said.
With the sudden, unexpected closure of Fort Lyon Correctional Facility near Las Animas last year, and this year’s announcement that CSPII is closing, Hodge said a formal process to inform capital decisions around prisons is in order.
‘‘This all happened really fast after Gov. (John) Hickenlooper took office last January,” she said. “The decision to close Fort Lyon was in March. He’d only been in office for a month and a half. There was no real opportunity to step back and look at it. Now we need to.”
Hickenlooper told Colorado Public Radio last week that efforts have begun to identify a new purpose for CSPII, which has a capacity of more than 900, but never held more than 316 offenders. He mentioned the federal prison system and private prisons as two possible tenants.

Spring Newsletter is available

CCJRC Spring News

Lawmakers introduce bill to lessen drug penalties

Press Conference on SB 316

Reduced Crime Means Less Need For State Prisons

Pueblo Chieftain
By TRACY HARMON | tharmon@chieftain.com | Posted: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 12:00 am
CANON CITY — State officials shared the good news and bad news Tuesday as they talked about why they've decided to close the state's newest prison in February.
The good news: Crime is decreasing, inmate numbers are decreasing and the number of inmates who get out and then come back for parole violations is decreasing.
The bad news: The $162 million prison, dubbed Colorado State Penitentiary II, won't even be paid for until 2021 and it can't replace older prisons because it doesn't have the basic necessities like program and recreational space.
Luckily, jobs won't be lost. The DOC already has 60 vacancies in the remaining Canon City area prisons so by February, there will be enough jobs to transfer the 213 employees to new positions.
Nick Montanez was among about 32 DOC employees to attend a town hall meeting Tuesday evening at the Corrections Training Academy in Canon City. He accused corrections executives of using "smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand — where is the cost savings coming in?"
"We are trying to do this in a way that is responsible with the economic health of Fremont County in mind. Instead of new hires, we will hold vacancies open until we move staff out of CSPII," said Colorado Department of Corrections Executive Director Tom Clements.
"The shrinking offender population has really created an opportunity to close the prison," Clements said. "There have been significant declines beginning in 2009."
Just in the last eight months, the inmate population has dropped by 1,048 prisoners and CSPII, or Centennial South as it has been referred to, houses just 316 inmates. The trend is expected to continue and there will be an estimated 905 fewer male inmates in the next 16 months, Clements explained.
A declining crime rate, coupled with fewer paroled inmates returning to prison is credited for the declining prison population.
"This is great news for all of us. In addition, there has been a decrease in prison commitments from the court system," Clements said.
Another plus is that inmates are getting out and staying out.
"We are doing a much better job of working with inmates when we release them," said Roxane White, chief of staff for Gov. John Hickenlooper. "Unfortunately we have to close a prison."
Clements said he is confident the DOC can relocate the highest-security inmates. He said the state will still have 1,284 administrative segregation beds and 1,094 ad seg inmates.
"A big part of our mission is to prepare them to be productive members of society. A total of 97 percent will get released," Clements said.

Brother's addiction spurs Senator's support to changes in drug laws

The Denver Post

 A state senator revealed his brother's decade-long addiction to meth today when he and three other lawmakers unveiled their bill to reduce the crime of drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Senate Bill 2012-163 deals with drug offenders who primarily are users and addicts rather than dealers, and enhances their access to treatment.
"We have so many people throughout this country who are the casualties of a failed war on drugs," said Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder. "And in one sense when you get a felony not only do you get a criminal penalty, but what you have is a sentence to life without employment."
During a news conference at the Capitol, Levy presented the bill with Sens. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, and Pat Steadman, D-Denver, and Rep. Don Beezley, R-Broomfield .
That's when Mitchell said his younger brother is a meth addict who has been jailed in more than one state and has a felony conviction. But he said a drug treatment program appears to have pointed his brother in a new direction.
"My family is filled with love and hope for his turnaround," Mitchell said.
SB 163 has the backing of diverse organizations, including the Independence Institute, the Colorado Criminal Defense Foundation, and the Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.
"Let's be clear. This is not legalization. This is not decriminalization," Mitchell said. "This is simply a smarter approach to fighting the evils of drug abuse in our society. Trafficking, dealing, distribution will remain a felony. But for the personal users, the addict, the person trapped in this destructive cycle, we'll focus our effort on treatment and improvement."

Read more: Brother's addiction spurs senator's support for changes to drug laws - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20223182/brothers-addiction-spurs-senators-support-changes-drug-laws##ixzz1pmGKL0Ap
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New Bill Would Improve Drug Laws

The Gazette

WAYNE LAUGESEN

FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The war on drugs has ruined lives, packed our prisons and hurt our economy. Drugs abuse is a scourge on society, but our efforts at a remedy have failed and may be worse than the problem.
Senate Bill 163, which enjoys bipartisan support of Republicans, Democrats, conservatives and liberals, would help move Colorado in the right direction.
The bill is sponsored by conservative Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, and liberal Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder — among others. It also has the enthusiastic support of the Independence Institute, Colorado’s renowned free-market public-policy think tank. This is not a right bill, a left bill, a Republican bill, a Democrat bill, a soft-on-crime bill or a tough-on-crime bill. It is a common sense bill that will improve society and reduce drug addiction.
The bill, very simply, would reduce possession of four grams or less of any schedule 1 or II controlled substance, such as marijuana or cocaine, or two grams or less of methamphetamine (schedule II), from a felony to a misdemeanor. By reducing incarceration the bill would save money, which the bill would require state government to reinvest into substance-abuse treatment programs throughout Colorado.
Research of a one-year period by Colorado’s Division of Criminal Justice revealed that of all drug abusers sentenced to prison, 60 percent were convicted of drug possession. In fairness, most of those prisoners are not guilty of drug possession alone. Drug addicts get themselves into all sorts of drug-related trouble, such as thievery, failure to pay fines and contempt of court for missing court dates or failing drug tests. We aren’t suggesting that it’s common for people caught with a small amount of marijuana, who have done nothing else, to end up in prison.
We do know that felony drug convictions for possession are used to incarcerate criminals who would fare better for themselves, and for society, if treated rather than caged. Instead of spending and average of $32,000 to imprison each convict for a year, we could spend that money to correct the course of the addict’s life. Instead of taking offenders off of payrolls and tax roles for years on end, often leaving their dependents to drain public resources, we could invest in making them more productive and responsible. We could invest in creating independence, rather than entrenching drug addicts into the endless cycle of state dependency that typically results from substantial time behind bars.
Do you support a bill to reduce incarceration of drug users and enhance drug treatment with the money that is saved? Vote in poll to the right. Must vote to see results.
The bill heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 28.
“This is such an important piece of legislation and I’m so proud that Republicans and Democrats have come together to make such meaningful and sensible changes to the way we approach drug abuse and incarceration in this state,” said Sen. Mitchell. “We need to be using our criminal justice resources more wisely and that means providing treatment to reduce drug addiction, not growing our felony population and overcrowding our prisons with low-level drug users.”
Sponsors of the bill, from the House and the Senate, will announce its introduction at 8:45 a.m. this morning in the third floor press room of the state capitol. The Gazette’s editorial board respectfully requests that legislators from the Pikes Peak region, and all other areas of Colorado, give Senate Bill 163 their support.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/bill-135543-drugs-boulder.html#ixzz1plkkKdu2

Nathan Dunlap Get Mental Health Hearing

Gazette

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A man on Colorado's death row for killing four people at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant nearly 19 years ago asked a federal court Tuesday to overturn his death sentence.

Attorneys for Nathan Dunlap told a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Dunlap is mentally ill and that his trial lawyers failed to adequately represent him.
Paul Koehler, of the state attorney general's office, told judges that Dunlap's previous attorneys had experience in death penalty cases, KUSA-TV in Denver reported.
Dunlap was sentenced to death after he was convicted of killing three teenagers and a mother of two at the Aurora restaurant in 1993.
He's one of three men on death row in Colorado, which hasn't executed anyone in 15 years. The death sentences of six other death-row inmates have been thrown out since Dunlap was sentenced.
"Nathan Dunlap is running out of time. This is his last, best chance," said defense attorney David Lane, who isn't representing Dunlap. "If he loses here, his odds of being executed skyrocket."
One of Dunlap's victims was 19-year-old Sylvia Crowell, who was shot from behind as she helped close the restaurant for the night.
"The hurt is still going on," her father, Bob Crowell, told The Denver Post before the hearing. "And we are somewhat anxious that somebody is going to throw a monkey wrench in there and he is not going to be executed."
The 10th Circuit judges could take months to issue a ruling, and the losing side could then ask for a hearing before all the court's judges. The court's final decision could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/dunlap-135541-death-court.html#ixzz1piWIIW5e

Lawmakers seek to reduce penalties (CCJRC in the News)

NECN
DENVER (AP) — Colorado lawmakers are proposing reduced penalties for some drug possession offenses in a move that supporters say is aimed at ensuring offenders get treatment instead of long prison sentences.
The bill introduced in the Senate Tuesday would drop some offenses from felonies to misdemeanors and represents another attempt by lawmakers to decrease the prison population and cut expenses in the Department of Corrections.
The proposal would require that any possible savings be directed to drug treatment.
Republican Sen. Shawn Mitchell, one of the lawmakers leading the way on the legislation, has spoken publicly about the toll meth addiction has taken on his younger brother and said he wants a more sensible approach against drugs. He said his brother is "on a strong path to recovery."
"The war on drugs has made government more powerful, citizens less free, and hasn't helped users or addicts," Mitchell said. "I want to push a smarter effort against drugs. I want to stop piling people into prisons and stop branding people with a felony for a personal weakness."
Mitchell said he questioned the government's handling of drug crimes even before his experience with his brother.
"But I was probably afraid to confront a conservative political base until I saw this problem threaten to ruin my brother's life," he said.
The legislation, which has support from both parties, would reduce possession of four grams or less of a scheduled I or II controlled substance, or two grams or less of methamphetamine, from a class 6 felony to a class 1 misdemeanor.
Scheduled I drugs include heroin, LSD, and marijuana. Scheduled II drugs include cocaine, methamphetamine, and some painkillers.
Colorado prosecutors oppose the legislation and say possession of dangerous drugs should be treated seriously and not be labeled as misdemeanor offenses.
Tom Raynes, executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys' Council, said most first-time drug offenders are given deferred sentences, meaning they'll have their case dismissed if they complete certain conditions such as a drug treatment program. Raynes said he worries the proposed bill might remove an incentive for offenders to complete drug treatment.
"Kind of what keeps people in the program is concerns over getting a felony conviction," he said.
Supporters argue that the judicial system is overly penalizing addicts who would be better off getting treatment, rather than going to prisons and making the state pay an expensive tab.
"I think that as state budgets have struggled, under that there's been more energy put into asking ourselves what works to promote public safety," said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.
Donner's group analyzed data from the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice and found that a majority of drug offenders sentenced to prison were convicted of possession charges According to the data, from August 2010 to November 2011, 310 people were convicted on drug possession charges, accounting for about 60 percent of all drug offenders sentenced to prison during that time. It costs about $32,000 a year to incarcerate someone.
The legislation builds on a law passed two years ago that distinguished drug use and possession from the offenses of manufacturing and distribution. Lawmakers who supported that legislation credit it with helping reduce the state inmate population and they're lobbying for cuts at prisons as a result.
Donner said another goal is the legislation is to reduce the number of people with felony records who find it difficult to find jobs or housing after they complete their sentence.
"You can overcome addiction, but you can never overcome a felony," Donner said.

SB 163 Introduced-Drug Sentencing Reform

            

CCJRC Legislative Update--Drug Reform Bill Introduced

BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO REDUCE DRUG ADDICTION AND IMPRISONMENT INTRODUCED

IN LEGISLATURE TODAY

Senate Bill 163 Reduces Penalties for Drug Possession and Reinvests Savings in Corrections Into Community-Based Substance Abuse Treatment

Today, Senate Bill 12-163 was introduced by state Senators Shawn Mitchell (R-Broomfield) and Pat Steadman (D-Denver) and Representatives Don Beezley (R-Broomfield) and Claire Levy (D-Boulder) in a bipartisan effort to promote a more effective and humane approach to reducing drug addiction and addiction-related crime.

Specifically, SB 163 would:

• reduces from a class 6 felony to a class 1 misdemeanor the crime of simple possession
• reduces from a class 4 felony to a class 6 felony the crime of possession of over 4 grams of a schedule I or II controlled substance or more than 2 grams of methamphetamine
• requires savings in corrections be reinvested into substance abuse treatment

SB 163 does not make any changes related to drug distribution offenses. If there is evidence that even small quantities of drugs are possessed with the intent to distribute, prosecutors can still file a felony charge of drug distribution at any quantity of drugs.

SB 163 is also co-sponsored by Senators Aguilar (D-Denver), Cadman (R-Colorado Springs), Grantham (R-Canon City), Guzman (D-Denver), Jahn (D-Wheat Ridge), Neville (R-Littleton), Spence (R-Centennial) and Representatives Barker (R-Colorado Springs), DelGrosso (R-Loveland), Ferrandino (D-Denver), Massey (R-Poncha Springs), McCann (D-Denver), Nikkel (R-Loveland), Singer (D-Longmont), and Vigil (D-Fort Garland)

The bill also has the backing of diverse organizations including the Independence Institute, Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition and Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Foundation.

SB 163 needs our support!  CCJRC is asking its coalition partners and allies throughout the state to support SB 163.  The District Attorney’s Council will oppose SB 163 so we need to demonstrate strong community support for this common sense and humane approach to addressing addiction through the hope and tools of recovery rather than the threat and fear of incarceration in prison.  If your organization would like to join the list of supporters, please contact pam@ccjrc.org

You can read the full text of SB 163 at
http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2012A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/ECC1953AD1E60D948725798B00690D0F?Open&file=163_01.pdf


BACKGROUND
In the fall of 2011, the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) analyzed data provided by the Division of Criminal Justice on drug cases in Colorado from August 2010 – November 2011. This data demonstrated that, of ALL drug offenders sentenced to prison, 60% (310 people) were convicted of drug possession at an average cost of $32,000 per offender per year, nearly $10 million per year.

In 2009, Roger Przbylski (RKC Group, Lakewood, Colorado) released his report entitled, Correctional and Sentencing Reform for Drug Offenders: Research Findings on Selected Key Issues. Key findings included:

• Research has produced clear and convincing evidence that substance abuse treatment reduces alcohol and drug use and crime.

• Studies that have examined the monetary costs and benefits of incarcerating drug offenders have produced clear and consistent evidence that imprisonment of drug offenders is not a cost-effective use of public resources and that substance abuse treatment provides a greater return on tax dollars than incarceration.

• A large body of scientific evidence indicates that the incarceration of drug offenders does not have a significant deterrent effect on drug use.  In fact, our enhanced understanding of the science of addiction helps explain why the threat or experience of incarceration has so little impact on chronic abusers.  The repeated use of addictive drugs eventually changes how the brain functions.  These brain changes affect natural inhibition and reward centers causing the addict to use drugs in spite of the adverse health, social and legal consequences.

THE RAND Corp. study “Controlling Cocaine: Supply Versus Demand Programs” found that each dollar spent on treatment issues reduces the cost of crime and lost productivity by $7.46, while traditional domestic drug enforcement (arrest, seizure and incarceration) returns just 52 cents.  Researchers for the conservative American Enterprise Institute concur stating “treatment of heavy users is a far more cost effective policy at the margin than any kind of enforcement.”

A felony conviction is a lifetime punishment, resulting in significantly reduced ability to obtain housing and employment, the basics of productive life.  Low-level drug possession does not warrant a lifetime of diminished opportunity.

Close to 20 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government have some level of schedule I or II controlled substances classified as a misdemeanor offense. The states differ on quantity and structuring of offenses.  Other states are currently considering similar changes.

CSP II Closing!

Pueblo Chieftain

• The Pueblo Chieftain
•  

State to close high-security prison

Posted: Monday, March 19, 2012 3:12 pm | Updated: 3:50 pm, Mon Mar 19, 2012.

By PABLO CARLOS MORA | ​pmora@chieftain.com | 0 comments

The high-security Colorado State Penitentiary II will close in February 2013, the state Department of Corrections announced today.
The prison opened in 2010.

The prison, which has 316 beds, employs 256 full-time workers, DOC Director Tom Clements said in a press release.
“Of those employees, 213 will be reassigned to vacant DOC positions within Fremont County,” the press release stated. “Forty-two employees will keep their jobs” at the prison, which provides laundry, food and other services to other DOC facilities."
Clements said the closure was due to shrinking inmate populations and other factors.
“From a peak of 23,220 inmates in July 2009, the total inmate population has fallen to 21,562 at the end of February 2012,” the press release stated. “The Division of Criminal Justice has projected that the offender population will decline by an additional 905 offenders by June 30 2013.”
A meeting on the closure will be held Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the DOC Training Academy in Canon City.

Another prison closure? - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local News

Another prison closure? - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local News
DENVER — Colorado’s dramatically declining prison population could land a state prison on death row as early as Monday.
“We need to stop as a community and be ecstatic that we have less people in prison,” said Roxane White, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff. “That’s a good thing for all of us. But the flip side is closing a prison is so hard on a community, and we have more prison closures that we will have to do as these prison numbers decline.”
Side effects of the dwindling population could come quickly.
“On Monday morning, I’ll know,” White said. “It would be fair to say that a prison drop of 189 men a month raises significant concerns about our ability to maintain all facilities.”
Talk among lawmakers has centered on Colorado State Penitentiary II, where 316 administrative-segregation inmates in solitary confinement are housed.
“I think it’s something we’ll be looking at very close,” said Rep. Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan, who serves on the Joint Budget Committee.
“That’s certainly on the table,” agreed Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, who also serves on the budget committee.
In the spring of 2010 — while it was making deep cuts to public education and other areas — the Legislature authorized $10.8 million to open CSPII. It closed the loop on a project that had begun in 2003 and been delayed several times.
“We were in such a hurry to build prisons a few years ago without much forethought about the possibility of the population going down that we did this to ourselves,” said Sen. Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City.
Colorado’s shifting philosophy tilts toward moving prisoners out of administrative segregation, which makes CSPII a handy target for elimination talks. Instead of warehousing inmates in administrative segregation, the focus has moved towards preparing them for re-entry to the general population, and ultimately to society on the outside.
“The worst thing you can do is have somebody in administrative segregation, they kill their number and we put them on a bus,” White said. “Then we’re surprised when they don’t do well.”
Since adopting the new philosophy last year, the Department of Corrections already has moved 390 inmates from administrative segregation to the general prison population, according to spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti.
Over the next few months, the prison system expects to assess and reclassify 2,000 more prisoners out of administrative segregation, according to White.
Administrative segregation is a subplot to the overarching concern of a prison system that is shedding population faster than even the most ambitious state projections.

Medical Community Tries To Slow Flood of Painkiller Misuse

The Denver Post

Deaths linked to prescription opioid use have doubled in 10 years in Colorado, and the steep increases in both legal use and dangerous abuse of painkillers are forcing the medical community to rethink the way it treats chronic pain.
Painkiller prescriptions written by the top 10 Medicaid prescribers for one popular drug, Roxicodone, shot up 46 percent last year, according to state records. Denver's Office of Drug Strategy found that prescriptions filled for oxycodone rose 58 percent from 2007 to 2011.
Nonmedical use of painkillers in Colorado is 19 percent higher than the national average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To illustrate the "epidemic" nature of opioid abuse, the CDC said
h of the painkillers were sold in 2010 to medicate every American adult with a typical 5-milligram dose of hydrocodone every four hours for a month."People think, 'It's a pharmaceutical, it's pure, it's good for me.' That lends itself to a casualness about the use of it," said Art Schut, deputy director of the Arapahoe House addiction-treatment center in Thornton. Patients learn too late that opioids are severely addictive, in part because of their ability to both block pain and induce euphoria.
The number of Arapahoe clients coming in for opioid dependency or addiction has doubled in four years, Schut said. Those kinds of numbers have raised questions about a pain-care philosophy that began more than a decade ago. Doctors say using opioid-based pills to treat lingering pain helped millions of people. But they increasingly acknowledge mounting abuse requires a safety overhaul of their practices.
State epidemiologists say opioid-related deaths in Colorado rose from 182 in 2000 to 421 in 2009, before retreating some. The 2011 count is at least 362 deaths, although the year's review of death certificates is not yet complete.
Opioids for patients in real need "are far and away the most effective

Click on image to enlarge (The Denver Post)

treatments in many cases," said Thomas French, a senior instructor in the University of Colorado School of Medicine's Department of Pharmacology. "But they are very dangerous."A good portion of the problem for doctors and their patients, French said, is "well-intentioned misuse. They don't realize all the dangers and extra care you need to take with opioids."
Kaiser moving aggressively
Kaiser Permanente in Colorado is among those moving aggressively to reform painkiller prescribing and dispensing.
The nonprofit HMO launched a review in January of every painkiller patient in its database. The review spit out lists of patients with complicating risk factors, such as other prescriptions for anxiety drugs or a family history of dependence. The system, covering 535,000 patients and 900 doctors, told each doctor to meet with those on the list within 60 days.

Read more: Medical community tries to slow flood of painkiller misuse - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20199285/medical-community-tries-slow-flood-painkiller-misuse#ixzz1pTSJuT47
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Lawmakers Question Colorado Prison Spending

The Denver Post
DENVER—Colorado's inmate population is about the same as it was in 2004, but the proposed budget for the state Department of Corrections is about $150 million higher than it was eight years ago—and it's raising questions from lawmakers who want to reduce spending.
"That's obviously a huge disparity there," Rep. Mark Waller, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said this week.
The debate over prisons is expected to heat up over the coming weeks as lawmakers finalize next year's budget. It could also play an important role as Republicans look for ways to fund a $98.6 million property tax break for seniors that Gov. John Hickenlooper and fellow Democrats say the state can't afford without cutting education.
Colorado's quarterly revenue forecast Monday will also give lawmakers a better idea of how much money they have to spend.
The corrections department's budget request is $646 million, about 9 percent of the state's general fund. It's about the same portion of the budget taken by higher education, which has been cut repeatedly in recent years.
In 2004, the budget for corrections was nearly $497 million. Back then there were about 20,700 prisons in the system, almost exactly the same number projected to be incarcerated in 2013.
During the last five months, the prison population has decreased by 946 and the drop is expected to continue, said Katherine Sanguinetti, department spokeswoman. But she said that doesn't tell the whole story for why the department's spending is increasing, and that the prison population is not reflective of what the budget should be, especially when inflation is factored in.
"We don't have any control of some of those costs—utility costs, medical costs, transportation. Those are things that we have no control over," she said.
Sanguinetti said about 53 percent of the corrections budget goes to its 6,200 employees. She said expenses for health, dental and life insurance for employees have increased, as has the cost of providing medical treatment for inmates.
The number of inmates has decreased with alternative court sentences, discretionary parole releases, and a decrease in parole revocations, Sanguinetti said. Crime is also down.
Waller said lawmakers are partly responsible for the declining prison population because they passed legislation to reduce felony drug sentences.

Read more: Lawmakers question Colo. prison spending - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_20181143/lawmakers-question-colo-prison-spending#.T2KV2q9y-k0.mailto#ixzz1pI9a0e1w
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Reducing Overdose for Ex-Prisoners

Medical Xpress
Prison inmates frequently have a strong history of drug use and misuse, especially during the time prior to incarceration, and drugs often are the driving force behind the offense itself. New research, published in BioMed Central's newly launched open access journal Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, shows that ex-offenders struggle to remain drug free after release from prison and identifies factors that can help them succeed. Interviews with former inmates show that they themselves recognize that returning to former living environments (former friends and an easy access to drugs) is a strong trigger for drug use and overdose.
Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Kaiser Permanente Colorado interviewed former prisoners within two months of their release from prison. The interviews focused on experience of drug and alcohol use after release from prison, perception of risk of overdose, and experience of overdose amongst other ex-inmates.
Four main points came clearly across from these interviews. Return to drug use was felt to be due to poor social support, or provided a way to cope with inadequate economic resources and health problems. Secondly, drugs were readily available in their living environment and a constant temptation. Studies based in the US have shown that there is a high risk of drug-related death after release from prison, and these ex-prisoners reported that while overdose was seen as a 'way out' in the face of overwhelming difficulties, accidental overdose, due to decreased drug tolerance, was also common. Finally, 'protective' factors including structured drug treatment programs, spirituality or religion, self-help groups, and family were identified as factors which strengthened them against relapse.
Dr Ingrid Binswanger, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Physician Faculty Scholar who led the study, summarized, "These interviews show that former inmates with a history of drug use, and criminal behavior related to their drug use, are often released back into environments with significant social and economic challenges, little support and readily available drugs. A consequence of this is a high risk of intentional and unintentional overdose. These people need structured treatment, a gradual transition back into the community, and coping strategies. They also need access to 'protective' factors, as well as improved resources, to reduce the main triggers for relapse."

Colorado May Use Part of Mortgage Deal on Prison

CBS
A prison in southeast Colorado that closed earlier this year wasn't a victim of the national mortgage crisis. But it could find new life because of it.

Colorado might use part of its share of a national mortgage settlement to repurpose a closed prison as transitional housing for veterans. If it sends money to remodel the former Fort Lyon Correctional Facility in Bent County, it will join other states eyeing projects that have no connection to the mortgage crisis.

The prison was shuttered to save some $8 million next year and help balance the state budget. Colorado officials were scrambling to find a use for the former prison when the sweeping $25 billion mortgage settlement was announced in February.

Most that settlement goes directly to homeowners affected by the mortgage crisis. But states were given $2.7 billion to spend as they wish.

Colorado is getting some $51 million to be spent by Attorney General John Suthers, who has legal authority to decide how settlements are spent. A spokesman for the attorney general said Suthers is considering many proposals for spending the money.

Suthers' spokesman, Mike Saccone, said the Fort Lyon idea came from the governor's office in public meetings about how to spend the mortgage settlement.

"We've had a healthy public process," he said.

Saccone said the prison was among several ideas from the governor's office. Suthers is also considering beefing up foreclosure counseling funds and consumer education efforts more closely related to the housing crisis.

Not everyone likes the prison idea, though. Democratic Rep. Claire Levy said that because the mortgage settlement is a one-time windfall, it shouldn't be used on something the state would have to maintain in future years.

"I don't think that's a viable use of the money," Levy said. She questioned Colorado's practice of leaving most settlement money at the sole discretion of the state attorney general.

Post Maks Strange Bedfellows

The Denver Post

This is a tale of Pat Robertson, Tom Tancredo and ... me.
Something is seriously wrong with that construct, I know. What I can't figure out is whether it's them (Pat and Tom) or me (me).
But if we're all on the same page — and it looks like we are — I have to start worrying that I've been reading from the wrong book. After all, when your life is based on the compass school of ideology — for example, I'm happiest when standing 180 degrees from Tancredo — you can see the chance for misdirection.
It all began when I saw this shocking headline in The New York Times: "Pat Robertson Says Marijuana Use Should Be Legal."
I couldn't have been more surprised if the headline had said: "Pat Robertson Says He Plays Bob Marley on his iPod."
Pat Robertson, pro-doper? Sure, and Hunter Thompson was a televangelist.
I'm not exactly a huge legalize-marijuana guy, maybe because I haven't smoked any for many years. I take so many medicines now — this is what happens in old age, folks — that I'm lucky if I can sneak the occasional beer.
But if you grew up when adults made you watch "Reefer Madness," as I did, you pretty much know the war on drugs — particularly on pot — is a silly obsession, which I had always assumed would give way when my generation grew up.
Then a strange then happened. When my generation did grow up, they became like all previous grown-ups, particularly those who entered politics and either claimed they had never inhaled or said they'd "experimented" — as if a Bunsen burner were involved — and then found they didn't like it.
But now, it looked like the original grown-ups — if the headline about 81-year-old Robertson was true — had become us.
The first thing I did was check to make sure they were talking about that Pat Robertson, the one who last made headlines when he blamed the recent tornado victims for not being sufficiently prayerful. This didn't surprise anyone who remembers that Robertson blamed the Haiti earthquake on a pact with the devil.
A pact with the devil is one thing. But Robertson in a pact with devil weed?

Read more: Littwin: Pot makes strange bedfellows - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/littwin/ci_20133853/pot-makes-strange-bedfellows?source=rss#ixzz1p5vlrJlT
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Some Prisons Rely Less on Solitary Confinement; the Benefits Aren't Just Economic - News - ABA Journal

Some Prisons Rely Less on Solitary Confinement; the Benefits Aren't Just Economic - News - ABA Journal
More inmates are held in solitary confinement in the United States than any other nation, but in some states, attitudes toward the practice are changing.
At least 25,000 prisoners are in solitary confinement, the lingering effects of a get-tough approach that began 30 years ago, the New York Times reports. But some states are reducing the number of prisoners in solitary, including Mississippi, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Ohio and Washington state.
In the latest development, California officials on Friday announced plans to change policies that could cut the number of inmates sent to the state’s super-maximum-security units.
“Humanitarian groups have long argued that solitary confinement has devastating psychological effects,” the Times says, “but a central driver in the recent shift is economics. Segregation units can be two to three times as costly to build and, because of their extensive staffing requirements, to operate as conventional prisons are. They are an expense that many recession-plagued states can ill afford.”
While states see economic benefits from change, many prisoners are seeing psychological benefits. The story cites Mississippi as an example. Inmates at the state's super-maximum-security prison were at one time kept in solitary 23 hours a day. In 2007, violence broke out, resulting in two murders, a stabbing and a suicide. When prison officials allowed exercise and group interaction, inmates behaved better, more left solitary, and violence went down.

DOC Monthly Population Reports - February 2012

Department of Corrections

Dashboard Measures

Juvenile Justice Reform Bill Clears Committee

KDVR
DENVER — Lawmakers Thursday heard from juvenile justice advocates and prosecutors, divided over legislation aimed at protecting youth offenders from entering the criminal justice system as adults.
And, after several hours of testimony, the House Judiciary Committee sided with the juvenile justice advocates, passing a bill to scale back the discretion that can be used by district attorneys on a 9-2 vote.
The hearing came on the heels of a new report that concludes Colorado’s “Direct File” system, which allows district attorneys to prosecute offenders between the ages of 14-17 in adult court without a judicial hearing on the issue, is grossly overused and failing to protect teenagers who have often had no prior offenses or experience in the juvenile system.
That report, issued by the Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition based on a review of 3,000 cases between 1993 and 2011, shows that direct file is disproportionately affecting teenagers of color and that nearly all of the cases — a whopping 95 percent — lead to plea bargains before the case ever goes before a judge.
Terrance Roberts, now a community activist working with at-risk youth, testified Thursday in favor of the legislation and spoke about his own experience after being booked into the Denver County Jail as a 17-year-old in 1994, after being arrested as a suspect in a shooting.
“I was in jail with adults, with hardened criminals,” Roberts told FOX31 Denver. “It was a shock, it was really different for me. It was violent. There were stabbings. There were people getting beat.”
Roberts’ story underscores the report’s conclusion that “trying youth as adults hasn’t made Colorado safer, but actually increases the likelihood that a teenager will re-offend in the future.”
“I think it probably made me a worse person,” Roberts said. “It made me very angry at the system for having me locked up like that for a crime I didn’t even commit. I stayed a gang member and I actually became worse. And it put extra trauma on me.”
“We really are taking them a fragile state of development and putting them into this harsh environment, which research tells us, makes them more likely to commit violent crimes in the future,” said Kim Dvorchak, executive director of the Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition.
“They become friends with adult criminals, they learn criminal behavior, and they’re more likely to be sexually assaulted in an adult prison.”
House Bill 1271, sponsored by Rep. B.J. Nikkel, R-Loveland, and Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, would limit the range of crimes that can be direct filed into adult court to the most serious violent offenses, like murder and rape.
“This bill will put the ability to charge a youth as an adult back in the hands of neutral judges,” Nikkel said.

Keeping Inmates Out of the Hole

Keeping Inmates Out of the Hole: In recent years, Colorado has had a higher percentage of inmates in solitary confinement than other states. New reforms are changing that. [Photo: National Geographic Television]  Click to listen to Andrea's interview with Christie Donner.

When Innocence isn't enough

New York Times

EDWARD LEE ELMORE turned 53 in January. For more than half his life, the soft-spoken African-American who doesn’t understand the concept of north, south, east and west, or of summer, fall, winter and spring, was in a South Carolina prison, most of it on death row.

On Friday, Mr. Elmore walked out of the courthouse in Greenwood, S.C., a free man, as part of an agreement with the state whereby he denied any involvement in the crime but pleaded guilty in exchange for his freedom. This was his 11,000th day in jail.

Mr. Elmore was convicted in 1982 for the sexual assault and murder of an elderly white widow in Greenwood. His trial lasted only eight days, including two spent picking the jury. The state concealed evidence that strongly pointed to Mr. Elmore’s innocence and introduced damning evidence that appears to have been planted by the police. For three decades lawyers for Mr. Elmore, who were convinced of his innocence, sought to get him a fair trial.

Headlines and news stories about men being released from death row based on DNA testing suggest that this happens often. But it doesn’t. Once a person has been convicted, even on unimaginably shaky grounds, an almost inexorable process — one that can end in execution — is set in motion. On appeal, gone is the presumption of innocence; the presumption is that the defendant had a fair trial. Not even overwhelming evidence that the defendant is innocent is necessarily enough to get a new trial. “Due process does not require that every conceivable step be taken, at whatever cost, to eliminate the possibility of convicting an innocent person,” Justice Byron R. White wrote for the majority in a 1977 case, Patterson v. New York.

In other words, innocence is not enough.

I came to the Elmore case indirectly during the 2000 presidential campaign. On “Meet the Press,” George W. Bush, who as governor of Texas had presided over more executions than anyone in history at the time (Rick Perry has surpassed him), told Tim Russert that he was confident that every person who had been executed or placed on death row in Texas under his watch was guilty and had had a fair trial. This led to a reporting assignment in which a New York Times colleague, Sara Rimer, and I wrote about capital punishment, starting in Texas and then ranging from coast to coast.

It was an eye-opening experience. But no case grabbed me like Mr. Elmore’s. It stands out because it raises nearly all the issues that shape debate about capital punishment: race, mental retardation, a jailhouse informant, DNA testing, bad defense lawyers, prosecutorial misconduct and a strong claim of innocence.

Few men on death row are without any connection to the crime for which they are condemned to die. Their conviction might be reversed after an appellate court finds they were denied due process or didn’t receive a fair trial. Other death row inmates may not be guilty of murder, because they didn’t pull the trigger though they were present during the crime. But in the case of Mr. Elmore, I am convinced beyond a scintilla of a doubt that he had nothing to do with the Greenwood woman’s death. His conviction resulted primarily from a rush to judgment — and flagrant prosecutorial misconduct.

Mr. Elmore, who grew up in abject poverty as the 8th of 11 children born to a tenant farmer’s daughter, was arrested 36 hours after the body of 76-year-old Dorothy Ely Edwards was found in her bedroom closet. Mr. Elmore had occasionally washed windows and cleaned gutters at the woman’s house, the last time two weeks before the murder. Less than 90 days after the body was found, his trial began.

During his opening statement, the prosecutor, William Townes Jones III, a courtroom legend, said that 53 hairs had been gathered from the victim’s bed, where the sexual assault supposedly took place, and that most were the defendant’s pubic hairs. It was the only physical evidence that put Mr. Elmore inside the house at the time of the crime. “That’s what convicted him,” said a juror.

But contradictions appeared at the outset. When Mr. Jones called an agent from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, as a witness, he handed him a plastic bag marked State Exhibit 58 and asked him if it contained “53 hairs gathered from the bed of the deceased.”

“The total count on the hairs is 49,” answered the agent, Earl Wells, and he added that there were only 42 in the bag, because he had taken seven out for examination.

Mr. Elmore’s lawyers made nothing of this discrepancy during their cross-examination of Mr. Wells, or in their closing argument.

The state’s own inability to agree on how many hairs were found wasn’t the only suggestion of foul play. State Exhibit 58, the baggie with the hairs, wasn’t sealed. Which means that the hairs could have been put in by anyone at any time, and could have included those yanked from Mr. Elmore’s groin at the police station after he was arrested.