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.
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