Counties fear private-prison closures - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local News
Counties fear private-prison closures - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local News
A report last week that Corrections Corporation of America needs a subsidy from the state or it will start shedding jobs has caught the attention of officials in Bent and Crowley counties.
Las Animas is home to the Bent County Correctional Facility, the city's largest employer at 280 employees.
Las Animas County Commissioner Bill Long said Tuesday that if CCA decided to cut jobs or shut down the prison it would cripple the county.
"It would be an absolute disaster for Bent County," Long said. "To first lose the Fort Lyon Correctional Facility, which used to be our largest employer, and then possibly this, it just can't be described as anything other than awful."
Long said that in addition to the correctional facility being the county's largest employer, it also is its largest taxpayer at around $400,000 annually. He added that the prison purchases its utilities from the city of Las Animas and has a monthly bill around $80,000.
Long said he and his fellow commissioners are getting word from the state that no facilities are going to be shut down but that staff reductions are certainly possible.
"We're unhappy that this is even being proposed," he said.
Olney Springs, which is home to the Crowley County Correctional Facility that also is operated by the CCA, is another correctional facility at risk of losing jobs.
Crowley County Commissioner Tobe Allumbaugh said funding from the Colorado Department of Corrections is the core issue.
Allumbaugh said the Colorado Department of Corrections gives private prisons such as the one in Crowley County $52.69 per day per inmate compared with $77.98 that state prisons receive per day, per inmate.
"It makes you wonder why we wouldn't use private facilities to the fullest," Allumbaugh said. "How the DOC believes private facilities can make a living being paid $25 per day per inmate less than they claim it costs is a little hard to understand."
Still, Allumbaugh said he is hopeful that a practical resolution will come out of all of this.
1 comment:
Commissioners Allumbaugh, DOC gives private prisons the non-violent drug offenders, such as my friend Casey. He was at Limon (public) and was shipped to Kit Carson (private), which provides no programs and min wage workers. He had 4 different case managers in 6 months. No treatment programs and horrible staff led to him acting out and he is now at CSP.
We can thank one Ari Zavaras, ex-Denver Police Chief, for the pushing of legislature for 10 years to borrow $100M on "future" state revenues to construct this now moth balled prison.mpc
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