Prison Clamps Down Following Colorado Prison Chief's Murder

The Denver Post

One year after a parolee killed state prisons director Tom Clements, life behind bars — and beyond — is far different for Colorado convicts. After years of declining prison populations — reductions that Clements had trumpeted — the number of inmates has risen in the past year as a direct result of his slaying.
Among the factors:

• The Colorado Parole Board granted an average of 24 fewer discretionary paroles per month, an 8 percent decrease.
• Authorities cracked down on technical violations by parolees. The parole board, acting on recommendations of parole officers, increased by 37 parolees a month, or 14 percent, the number it sent back to prison for rule violations such as missing curfews and drinking beer.
• The newly formed Fugitive Apprehension Unit has also rounded up 415 parole absconders across the state, including one who was particularly difficult to find because he was living in Quartzsite, Ariz., as a woman the past six years.

The nine-member team has tracked down offenders hiding across the country, from Alaska to Florida.
Prison officials have sharply reduced the number of inmates being held in solitary confinement, also known as administrative segregation, where Evan Ebel, the parolee who killed Clements,

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