Weekly Legislative Update 2/23/13

CCJRC 2013 Legislative Update

February 22, 2013

Here’s our weekly legislative update.  A couple of new bills were introduced this week including:

·         HB13-1236 Concerning Pre-Trial Release from Custody

·         HB13-1230 Concerning compensation for persons who are exonerated of their crimes after a period of incarceration

·         SB13-177 Concerning changes to juvenile corrections programs and, in connection reducing the Juvenile Detention bed cap.

You can read more on each below.  Bills are ordered in sequence, starting with Senate Bills (SB).

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SB 13-007  Concerning the Repeal Date of the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice

Sponsors: Senator Morse (D) and Representative Waller (R)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  The Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) has a repeal date of July 1, 2013.  This bill would eliminate the repeal date and continue the CCJJ. This bill is based on a recommendation from the CCJJ.

Status:  Passed the Senate on 2/22; will next be introduced in the House

SB 13-014  Concerning the Use of Opiate Antagonists to Treat Persons Who Suffer Opiate-Related Drug Overdose Events

Sponsors: Senator Aguilar (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  This bill would provide immunity from criminal prosecution and immunity from civil liability if a person, acting in good faith, administers an opiate antagonist to another person whom the person believes to be suffering an opiate-related drug overdose. A licensed health-care practitioner who is permitted by law to prescribe or dispense an opiate antagonist shall be immune from criminal prosecution for and is not liable for any civil damages resulting from such prescribing.

Status:  Passed the Senate Health & Human Services Committee (5-1) on 2/14.  Scheduled in Senate Appropriations Committee on 3/1 at 8:00am

SB 13-123 Concerning Provisions That Improve The Reintegration Opportunities for Persons Involved in the Criminal Justice System

Sponsors: Senator Steadman (D) and Representative Levy (D)

CCJRC position: support-priority

Description: Under current law, drug convictions are eligible for record sealing; this bill extends the eligibility for sealing to most other crimes. Sets specific waiting periods, other eligibility criteria, and procedures.  The bill also provides that a pardon issued by the governor waives all collateral consequences, unless the pardon limits the scope.

Status: Assigned to Senate Judiciary; not yet calendared.

SB13-177 Concerning Changes to Juvenile Corrections Programs and, in Connection Reducing the Juvenile Detention Bed Cap

Sponsor: Senators Lambert (R), Hodge (D), Steadman (D); and Representatives Gerou (R), Duran (D) and Levy (D)  (Joint Budget Committee Members)

CCJRC position: Support

Description: Reduces the number of available juvenile detention beds statewide from 422 beds to 382 beds as of April 1, 2013.

Status: Passed the Senate on 2/22; will next be introduced in the House

HB 13-1014 Concerning the Taking of Newspapers

Sponsors: Representative Levy (D) and Senator Steve King (R)

CCJRC position: support

Description: The bill moves the crime of newspaper theft and renames it interference with lawful distribution of newspapers. This bill is based on a recommendation from the Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status: Passed House 64-0 and passed Senate 35-0; awaiting action by Governor

HB 13-1038 Concerning the Voting Rights of Individuals in the Custody of the Division of Youth Corrections within the Department of Human Services

Sponsors: Representative Rosenthal (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  For youths confined in a juvenile facility in the custody of the Division of Youth Corrections (DYC) who will be 18 years of age or older on the date of the next elections, this bill requires the administrator of DYC facilities to provide information and facilitate voter registration and voting by mail-in ballot.

Status:  Passed House (36-28-1) on 2/11; introduced in Senate and assigned to State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee; not yet calendared for hearing

HB 13-1082 Concerning Juvenile Delinquency Records

Sponsors: Representative Labuda (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  This bill requires the court to initiate expungement proceedings not more than thirty days after a juvenile’s sentence is expired; however, for a juvenile adjudicated as an aggravated juvenile offender or violent juvenile offender or adjudicated for a felony offense of unlawful sexual behavior, the court shall initiate expungement proceedings not more than five years after the sentence is discharged.  The bill also limits public access to arrest and criminal records information to those juveniles adjudicated for a class 1 felony or the crime of possession of a handgun by a juvenile.

Status: Assigned to House Judiciary Committee – not yet calendared

HB 13-1085 Concerning Changes to the Crimes Eligible for Possession of Weapons by Previous Offenders

Sponsors: Representative Buck (R) and Senator Renfroe (R)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  Under current law, it is a crime for a person convicted of any felony offense to possess a firearm. This bill would limit the prohibition on possessing a firearm to those felony convictions under the victim’s rights act, burglary, arson, or any felony involving the use of force or the use of a deadly weapon.

Status: Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee for action only; not yet calendared.

HB 13-1114  Concerning Penalties for Persons Who Drive While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs

Sponsors: Representatives Waller (R) and Fields (D)

CCJRC position: monitor

Description:  In a DUI prosecution, if the driver’s blood contains 5 nanograms or more of delta THC per milliliter in blood (based on a blood test), such fact gives rise to a permissible inference that the driver was under the influence.  This bill is based on a recommendation from the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status: Scheduled to be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/26  in Old Supreme Court Chambers

HB 13-1129  Concerning Creating the Evidence-Based Practices Implementation for Capacity Resource Center

Sponsors: Representative Pettersen (D) and Senator Newell (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description: This bill creates a resource center in the Division of Criminal Justice to promote evidence-based practices by criminal justice agencies. An advisory board will oversee the resource center which includes, at a minimum, the executive directors of the department of public safety, department of corrections, the department of human services, and the division of probation. The Division of Criminal Justice will report to the General Assembly by July 1, 2014 and every 3 years thereafter.  This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status:  Passed House Judiciary unanimously on 2/19; referred to Appropriations- not yet calendared

HB13-1148  Concerning Changes to Aggravated Sentencing Provisions

Sponsors: Representative Foote (D) and Senator Roberts (R)

CCJRC position: priority support

Description: This bill repeals the extraordinary risk sentencing enhancer.  Also adds certain child abuse crimes and stalking crimes to the list of Crime of Violence offenses.  This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status:  Assigned to House Judiciary Committee; not yet calendared

HB13-1156 Concerning Creation of an Adult Diversion Program

Sponsors: Rep Levy (D) and Senator Steadman (D)

CCJRC position: priority support

Description: Creates a pre-filing diversion programs for adults statewide. The district attorney is required to develop eligibility guidelines and may enter into a diversion agreement with a defendant for up to two years without filing a criminal case against the defendant. This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status:  Assigned to House Judiciary Committee; not yet calendared

HB13-1160 Concerning Criminal Theft

Sponsors: Rep Pabon (D) and Senator King (R)

CCJRC position: priority support

Description: This bill repeals theft of rental property and theft by receiving as separate statutes and incorporates these crimes into the theft statute. It also changes the amount for various offense levels. This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status:  Passed House Judiciary Committee unanimously on 2/21; will next be heard in Appropriations

HB13-1210 Concerning Appointment of Legal Counsel During Plea Negotiations for Indigent Adult Defendants

Sponsors: Rep. Kagan (D) and Senator Steadman (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description: This bill will make Colorado law consistent with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the right to legal counsel during critical stages, including plea negotiations, this bill repeals the statute that requires an indigent person charged with a misdemeanor, petty offense, or motor vehicle or traffic offense to meet with the prosecuting attorney before legal counsel is appointed.

Status: Assigned to House Judiciary Committee-not yet calendared.

HB13-1214 Concerning the Classification of Certain Drunk Driving Offenses as Felonies

Sponsors: Rep. Waller (R)

CCJRC position: Monitor

Description: Under current law, a conviction for DUI, DUI per se, or DWAI  is considered a misdemeanor offense.  The bill states that such an offense is a class 5 felony if:  the violation occurred not more than 7 years after the first of two prior convictions or if the defendant has 3 prior DUI or DWAI convictions

Status: Passed unanimously in House Judiciary Committee on 2/21; will next be heard in Appropriations

HB13-1217  Concerning Parole Eligibility of a Person Convicted of Vehicular Homicide

Sponsors: Rep. Szabo (R); Rep. Priola (R)

CCJRC position: Oppose

Description: Under current law a person who commits vehicular homicide and is sentenced to prison is eligible for parole after serving 50% of his or her sentence. The bill changes parole eligibility to 75% of the sentence served less earned time awarded if the person is convicted of vehicular homicide and has a serious previous driving offense conviction, including vehicular assault, DUI etc.

Status: Will be heard in House State, Veterans, & Military Affairs on 3/4 at 1:30 in LSB-A

HB13-1230 Concerning Compensation For Persons Who Are Exonerated of their Crimes After a Period of Incarceration

Sponsors: Rep. Williams (D), Pabon (D), Buckner (D), Court (D), Hullinghorst (D), Melton (D), Pettersen (D), Salazar (D);  and Senator Guzman (D)

CCJRC position: Support

Description: With certain limitations, the state shall compensate a person, or the immediate family members of a person, who has been: wrongly convicted of a felony, or wrongly adjudicated a juvenile delinquent for the commission of an offense that would be a felony if committed by a person 18 years of age or older; incarcerated; and exonerated and found to be actually innocent.

Status: Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 3/7 at 1:30 p.m., Room 0112

HB13-1236 Best Practices in Bond Setting

Sponsers:  Senator Ulibarri (D), and Rep. Levy (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description: The bill repeals and reenacts the provisions of the criminal procedure code related to bail bonds. The new provision places a greater emphasis on evidence-based and individualized decision-making during the bond-setting process and discourages use of monetary conditions for bond. This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status: Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/28 at 1:30pm in the Old Supreme Court

Edward Montour case: Was inmate a volunteer for the death penalty?

Westword  by Alan Prendergast

In an unusual court hearing unfolding in Castle Rock, attorneys for Edward Montour Jr. are seeking to withdraw his guilty plea for the murder of a correctional officer in 2002, claiming that he was mentally ill at the time and seeking "court-assisted suicide" by firing his lawyers in a death-penalty case.
"He was, in my opinion, a volunteer," former state chief deputy public defender Sharlene Reynolds testified this morning. "He wanted to be killed by the state."
The question of whether Montour was mentally competent to represent himself is the latest hurdle in prosecutors' decade-long effort to execute him -- and a critical test of new Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler's pledge to pursue the death penalty, seldom used in Colorado, in cases of particularly heinous crimes.

Montour was already serving a life sentence for killing his eleven-week-old daughter when he abruptly attacked 23-year-old correctional officer Eric Autobee in the kitchen of the Limon Correctional Facility, striking him twice with a heavy ladle. It was the first inmate killing of an officer in the Colorado Department of Corrections in 73 years. Montour pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, but the Colorado Supreme Court threw out his death sentence in 2007 because it hadn't been imposed by a jury. Prosecutors have been seeking to get the death penalty reinstated in his case ever since. As reported here a few weeks ago, the drawn-out legal wrangle has alienated Autobee's parents, who say they no longer support the death penalty. Montour attorney David Lane has said his client would drop all appeals and agree to "stay in a little supermax cell for the rest of his life" if the state would take the death penalty off the table; when that didn't happen, Lane's team filed a motion to withdraw the guilty plea.
This week's two-day hearing is the defense's chance to present evidence that Montour had ineffective assistance of counsel and wasn't competent to proceed as his own attorney back in 2003. Reynolds, the first witness called, testified that Montour was suspicious of her and other lawyers trying to defend him and exhibited paranoid behavior when she met with him, expressing a belief that various people were plotting against him inside the DOC.
Montour, she added, had a history of mental-health issues and had been diagnosed as having a bipolar condition with psychotic features well before his attack on Autobee. He had stopped taking some powerful anti-psychotic drugs, lithium and Haldol, a few weeks before the attack.
"I was very concerned that Mr. Montour was taken off some very serious medication for psychosis," Reynolds said. "He might have been competent to stand trial, but he wasn't competent to represent himself."
Reynolds described her client as having a flat affect and showing signs of being delusional and despondent. Yet the public defenders didn't arrange for a psychiatrist to examine Montour to determine if he was competent to stand trial, and he soon fired his attorneys and was allowed to proceed pro se.
"It was my habit and routine, with mentally ill clients, to bring in a treating psychiatrist from the get-go," Reynolds said. "I don't know why it wasn't done in this situation. It should have been done."
Veteran prosecutor John Topolnicki sparred with Reynolds over whether Montour may have been faking mental illness, suggesting that the inmate "did a good job for himself" acting in his own defense and had a constitutional right to plead guilty, even if it meant the death penalty. But Lane contended that Montour had been doing everything he could to hide his mental condition a decade ago because he wanted to die.
"If Mr. Montour's goal was to commit court-assisted suicide, mental illness could be an impediment to that goal, couldn't it?" he asked.
Reynolds agreed: "I believe he was doing everything he could to sabotage his case.... He wanted to throw himself at the state and have the state kill him."
The hearing is expected to conclude Friday, after the prosecution presents its case for keeping the guilty plea -- and reinstating the death penalty.

Appeals Exhausted for Nathan Dunlap

The Colorado Independent

Appeals Exhausted for Colorado Chuck E. Cheese’s Killer

Decision to execute now rests with Gov. Hickenlooper

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at 4:36 pm

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The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the appeal of death-row prisoner Nathan Dunlap, the Colorado man convicted of the 1993 murder of four employees at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurant. Dunlap’s fate is now in the hands of Governor John Hickenlooper.

Whether or not to stay Dunlap’s execution will be one of the most profound decisions yet for Colorado’s conflict-averse and image-conscious governor, whose office so far has refused to comment on the case.
Tuesday’s announcement brings back memories of Dunlap’s rampage, which, pre-Columbine and pre-Aurora, shook the state, made national headlines and triggered calls to punish convicted killers beyond forcing them to spend the rest of their lives behind bars, watching TV and eating three meals a day on the state’s dime.
Unlike his predecessor Bill Ritter, a former Denver district attorney, Hickenlooper, a former brewmaster, has no background in law enforcement. Over the decade he has spent in politics, Hickenlooper has taken carefully scripted tough-on-crime stances on issues ranging from security at the Democratic National Convention to defending Denver police officers in excessive-force cases.
Still, the timing of the Supreme Court’s decision is tricky. It comes the week Democratic lawmakers had planned to propose a bill abolishing the death penalty in Colorado. The Governor — who has hedged on the issue for years — recently has suggested he’s leaning toward abolition. Behind the scenes, his chief legal counsel, Jack Finlaw, has spent months urging policy makers to end the death penalty.
Despite those efforts, sources close to the discussions say Hickenlooper’s resolve has waned in the past few weeks for fear that pushing abolition this session could compromise two other liberal pieces of his legislative agenda — passing same-sex civil unions and strengthening gun control. Democratic House Speaker Mark Ferrandino apparently shares those concerns. A meeting is scheduled this afternoon to discuss the death-penalty bill and whether to stall its introduction and effectively kill it this session.
Instead of abolishing the death penalty in the state, Hickenlooper could push a moratorium on executions, thereby passing the responsibility to his successor. A moratorium could keep the status quo in place for decades. Since the national reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976, Colorado has executed only one man, Gary Lee Davis, a convicted murderer who chose ice cream as his last meal before dying by lethal injection in 1997.
Davis’s execution came during the period when judges, not juries, had the authority to hand down death sentences in Colorado. In the aftermath of the Chuck E. Cheese’s murders and other high-profile cases, lawmakers in 1995 had set up a system in which a three-judge panel could sentence murder convicts to death. That system was deemed unconstitutional in 2002 on grounds that the panels don’t represent a trial by peers.
Meantime, Dunlap and a handful of other death row inmates have pinballed through the court system as the laws around capital punishment continue to morph.

Prison and the Poverty Trap

New York Times

WASHINGTON — Why are so many American families trapped in poverty? Of all the explanations offered by Washington’s politicians and economists, one seems particularly obvious in the low-income neighborhoods near the Capitol: because there are so many parents like Carl Harris and Charlene Hamilton.

For most of their daughters’ childhood, Mr. Harris didn’t come close to making the minimum wage. His most lucrative job, as a crack dealer, ended at the age of 24, when he left Washington to serve two decades in prison, leaving his wife to raise their two young girls while trying to hold their long-distance marriage together.

His $1.15-per-hour prison wages didn’t even cover the bills for the phone calls and marathon bus trips to visit him. Struggling to pay rent and buy food, Ms. Hamilton ended up homeless a couple of times.

“Basically, I was locked up with him,” she said. “My mind was locked up. My life was locked up. Our daughters grew up without their father.”

The shift to tougher penal policies three decades ago was originally credited with helping people in poor neighborhoods by reducing crime. But now that America’s incarceration rate has risen to be the world’s highest, many social scientists find the social benefits to be far outweighed by the costs to those communities.

“Prison has become the new poverty trap,” said Bruce Western, a Harvard sociologist. “It has become a routine event for poor African-American men and their families, creating an enduring disadvantage at the very bottom of American society.”

Among African-Americans who have grown up during the era of mass incarceration, one in four has had a parent locked up at some point during childhood. For black men in their 20s and early 30s without a high school diploma, the incarceration rate is so high — nearly 40 percent nationwide — that they’re more likely to be behind bars than to have a job.

No one denies that some people belong in prison. Mr. Harris, now 47, and his wife, 45, agree that in his early 20s he deserved to be there. But they don’t see what good was accomplished by keeping him there for two decades, and neither do most of the researchers who have been analyzing the prison boom.

The number of Americans in state and federal prisons has quintupled since 1980, and a major reason is that prisoners serve longer terms than before. They remain inmates into middle age and old age, well beyond the peak age for crime, which is in the late teenage years — just when Mr. Harris first got into trouble.

‘I Just Lost My Cool’

After dropping out of high school, Mr. Harris ended up working at a carwash and envying the imports driven by drug dealers. One day in 1983, at the age of 18, while walking with his girlfriend on a sidewalk in Washington where drugs were being sold, he watched a high-level dealer pull up in a Mercedes-Benz and demand money from an underling.

“This dealer was draped down in jewelry and a nice outfit,” Mr. Harris recalled in an interview in the Woodridge neighborhood of northeast Washington, where he and his wife now live. “The female with him was draped down, too, gold and everything, dressed real good.

“I’m watching the way he carries himself, and I’m standing there looking like Raggedy Ann. My girl’s looking like Raggedy Ann. I said to myself, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ ”

Within two years, he was convicted of illegal gun possession, an occupational hazard of his street business selling PCP and cocaine. He went to Lorton, the local prison, in 1985, shortly after he and Ms. Hamilton had their first daughter. He kept up his drug dealing while in prison — “It was just as easy to sell inside as outside” — and returned to the streets for the heyday of the crack market in the late 1980s.

The Washington police never managed to catch him with the cocaine he was importing by the kilo from New York, but they arrested him for assaulting people at a crack den. He says he went into the apartment, in the Shaw neighborhood, to retrieve $4,000 worth of crack stolen by one of his customers, and discovered it was already being smoked by a dozen people in the room.

“I just lost my cool,” he said. “I grabbed a lamp and chair lying around there and started smacking people. Nobody was hospitalized, but I broke someone’s arm and cut another one in the leg.”

An assault like that would have landed Mr. Harris behind bars in many countries, but not for nearly so long. Prisoners serve significantly more time in the United States than in most industrialized countries. Sentences for drug-related offenses and other crimes have gotten stiffer in recent decades, and prosecutors have become more aggressive in seeking longer terms — as Mr. Harris discovered when he saw the multiple charges against him.

For injuring two people, Mr. Harris was convicted on two counts of assault, each carrying a minimum three-year sentence. But he received a much stiffer sentence, of 15 to 45 years, on a charge of armed burglary at the crack den.

“The cops knew I was selling but couldn’t prove it, so they made up the burglary charge instead,” Mr. Harris contended. He still considers the burglary charge unfair, insisting that he neither broke into the crack den nor took anything, but he also acknowledges that long prison terms were a risk for any American selling drugs: “I knew other dealers who got life without parole.”

As it was, at the age of 24 he was facing prison until his mid-40s. He urged his wife to move on with her life and divorce him. Despondent, he began snorting heroin in prison — the first time, he says, that he had ever used hard drugs himself.

“I thought I was going to lose my mind,” he said. “I felt so bad leaving my wife alone with our daughters. When they were young, they’d ask on the phone where I was, and I’d tell them I was away at camp.”

His wife went on welfare and turned to relatives to care for their daughters while she visited him at prisons in Tennessee, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.

“I wanted to work, but I couldn’t have a job and go visit him,” Ms. Hamilton said. “When he was in New Mexico, it would take me three days to get there on the bus. I’d go out there and stay for a month in a trailer near the prison.”

In Washington, she and her daughters moved from relative to relative, not always together. During one homeless spell, Ms. Hamilton slept by herself for a month in her car. She eventually found a federally subsidized apartment of her own, and once the children were in school she took part-time jobs. But the scrimping never stopped. “We had a lot of Oodles of Noodles,” she recalled.

Eleven years after her husband went to prison, Ms. Hamilton followed his advice to divorce, but she didn’t remarry. Like other women in communities with high rates of incarceration, she faced a shortage of potential mates. Because more than 90 percent of prisoners are men, their absence skews the gender ratio. In some neighborhoods in Washington, there are 6 men for every 10 women.

“With so many men locked up, the ones left think they can do whatever they want,” Ms. Hamilton said. “A man will have three mistresses, and they’ll each put up with it because there are no other men around.”

Epidemiologists have found that when the incarceration rate rises in a county, there tends to be a subsequent increase in the rates of sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy, possibly because women have less power to require their partners to practice protected sex or remain monogamous.

When researchers try to explain why AIDS is much more prevalent among blacks than whites, they point to the consequences of incarceration, which disrupts steady relationships and can lead to high-risk sexual behavior. When sociologists look for causes of child poverty and juvenile delinquency, they link these problems to the incarceration of parents and the resulting economic and emotional strains on families.

Some families, of course, benefit after an abusive parent or spouse is locked up. But Christopher Wildeman, a Yale sociologist, has found that children are generally more likely to suffer academically and socially after the incarceration of a parent. Boys left fatherless become more physically aggressive. Spouses of prisoners become more prone to depression and other mental and physical problems.

“Education, income, housing, health — incarceration affects everyone and everything in the nation’s low-income neighborhoods,” said Megan Comfort, a sociologist at the nonprofit research organization RTI International who has analyzed what she calls the “secondary prisonization” of women with partners serving time in San Quentin State Prison.

Before the era of mass incarceration, there was already evidence linking problems in poor neighborhoods to the high number of single-parent households and also to the high rate of mobility: the continual turnover on many blocks as transients moved in and out.

Now those trends have been amplified by the prison boom’s “coercive mobility,” as it is termed by Todd R. Clear, the dean of the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University. In some low-income neighborhoods, he notes, virtually everyone has at least one relative currently or recently behind bars, so families and communities are continually disrupted by people going in and out of prison.

A Perverse Effect

This social disorder may ultimately have the perverse effect of raising the crime rate in some communities, Dr. Clear and some other scholars say. Robert DeFina and Lance Hannon, both at Villanova University, have found that while crime may initially decline in places that lock up more people, within a few years the rate rebounds and is even higher than before.

New York City’s continuing drop in crime in the past two decades may have occurred partly because it reduced its prison population in the 1990s and thereby avoided a subsequent rebound effect.

Raymond V. Liedka, of Oakland University in Michigan, and colleagues have found that the crime-fighting effects of prison disappear once the incarceration rate gets too high. “If the buildup goes beyond a tipping point, then additional incarceration is not going to gain our society any reduction in crime, and may lead to increased crime,” Dr. Liedka said.

The benefits of incarceration are especially questionable for men serving long sentences into middle age. The likelihood of committing a crime drops steeply once a man enters his 30s. This was the case with Mr. Harris, who turned his life around shortly after hitting 30.

“I said, ‘I wasn’t born in no jail, and I’m not going to die here,’ ” he recalled, describing how he gave up heroin and other drugs, converted to Islam and went to work on his high school equivalency degree.

But he still had 14 more years to spend in prison. During that time, he stayed in touch with his family, talking to his children daily. When he was released in 2009, he reunited with them and Ms. Hamilton.

“I was like a man coming out of a cave after 20 years,” Mr. Harris said. “The streets were the same, but everything else had changed. My kids were grown. They had to teach me how to use a cellphone and pay for the bus.”

The only job he could find was at a laundry, where he sorted soiled linens for $8.25 an hour, less than half the typical wage for a man his age but not unusual for someone just out of prison. Even though the District of Columbia has made special efforts to find jobs for ex-prisoners and to destigmatize their records — they are officially known as “returning citizens” — many have a hard time finding any kind of work.

Colorado Prison Hospice Program Helps Prisoners Die With Dignity

The Denver Post

CAÑON CITY  — Colorado's prison population is aging quickly and more inmates than ever are sick with illnesses that will kill them long before their sentences are up.
In the first state prison hospice program in the nation, inmates of the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Cañon City are trained to care for fellow prisoners as they follow the course of diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C toward the inevitable.
Colorado's total prison population more than doubled from 1991 to 2009, but the number of inmates age 50 or older increased 720 percent, according to "Old Behind Bars," a 2012 study by Human Rights Watch. Nationwide, the number of people in prison who are 65 or older increased 67 percent in only three years to 26,200 in 2010.
"We're treating more guys," said Dave Tessier, a chiropractor who runs the Territorial infirmary and hospice program. "It's only going to get worse."
In a prison where executioners once administered a poison cocktail to condemned men, nurses now feed morphine into the arms of the dying for their comfort. Men convicted of brutal crimes minister to the physical needs of the ill and elderly, and sometimes find redemption in the role of caretaker.

Read more: Colorado prison hospice program helps inmates die with dignity - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_22607208/colorado-prison-hospice-program-helps-inmates-die-dignity#ixzz2L9z4Ddmb
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

CCJRC Weekly Legislative Update

CCJRC 2013 Legislative Update

         Here’s our weekly legislative update.  Several new bills were introduced this week including:

• HB13-1210  (Rep. Kagan) Concerns the appointment of legal counsel during plea negotiations
• HB13-1214  (Rep.Waller)  Concerning classifying some drunk driving offenses as felonies
• HB13-1217  (Rep. Szabo)  Concern parole eligibility for those convicted of vehicular homicide

You can read more on each below.  Click on the title to read the entire bill. Bills are ordered in sequence, starting with Senate Bills (SB).

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SB 13-007  Concerning the Repeal Date of the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice
Sponsors: Senator Morse (D) and Representative Waller (R)
CCJRC position: support
Description:  The Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) has a repeal date of July 1, 2013.  This bill would eliminate the repeal date and continue the CCJJ. This bill is based on a recommendation from the CCJJ.
Status:  Passed Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously (5-0) on 1/17.  Will next be heard on Senate Appropriations Committee 2/15 at 8:00 a.m. in SCR 356

SB 13-014  Concerning the Use of Opiate Antagonists to Treat Persons Who Suffer Opiate-Related Drug Overdose Events
Sponsors: Senator Aguilar (D)
CCJRC position: support
Description:  This bill would provide immunity from criminal prosecution and immunity from civil liability if a person, acting in good faith, administers an opiate antagonist to another person whom the person believes to be suffering an opiate-related drug overdose. A licensed health-care practitioner who is permitted by law to prescribe or dispense an opiate antagonist shall be immune from criminal prosecution for and is not liable for any civil damages resulting from such prescribing.
Status:  Scheduled in the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on 2/14 at 1:30pm in SCR 352

SB 13-123 Concerning Provisions That Improve The Reintegration Opportunities for Persons Involved in the Criminal Justice System
Sponsors: Senator Steadman (D) and Representative Levy (D)
CCJRC position: support-priority
Description: Under current law, drug convictions are eligible for record sealing; this bill extends the eligibility for sealing to most other crimes. Sets specific waiting periods, other eligibility criteria, and procedures.  The bill also provides that a pardon issued by the governor waives all collateral consequences, unless the pardon limits the scope.
Status: HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED.  NOT CALENDARED YET.

HB 13-1014 Concerning the Taking of Newspapers
Sponsors: Representative Levy (D) and Senator Steve King (R)
CCJRC position: support
Description: The bill moves the crime of newspaper theft and renames it interference with lawful distribution of newspapers. This bill is based on a recommendation from the Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.
Status: Passed House 64-0.  Assigned to Senate Judiciary; not yet calendared.

HB 13-1038 Concerning the Voting Rights of Individuals in the Custody of the Division of Youth Corrections within the Department of Human Services
Sponsors: Representative Rosenthal (D)
CCJRC position: support
Description:  For youths confined in a juvenile facility in the custody of the Division of Youth Corrections (DYC) who will be 18 years of age or older on the date of the next elections, this bill requires the administrator of DYC facilities to provide information and facilitate voter registration and voting by mail-in ballot.
Status:  Passed Appropriations; referred to House for second reading; not yet calendared.

HB 13-1082 Concerning Juvenile Delinquency Records
Sponsors: Representative Labuda (D)
CCJRC position: support
Description:  This bill requires the court to initiate expungement proceedings not more than thirty days after a juvenile’s sentence is expired; however, for a juvenile adjudicated as an aggravated juvenile offender or violent juvenile offender or adjudicated for a felony offense of unlawful sexual behavior, the court shall initiate expungement proceedings not more than five years after the sentence is discharged.  The bill also limits public access to arrest and criminal records information to those juveniles adjudicated for a class 1 felony or the crime of possession of a handgun by a juvenile.
Status: Assigned to House Judiciary Committee –  not yet calendared

HB 13-1085 Concerning Changes to the Crimes Eligible for Possession of Weapons by Previous Offenders
Sponsors: Representative Buck (R) and Senator Renfroe (R)
CCJRC position: support
Description:  Under current law, it is a crime for a person convicted of any felony offense to possess a firearm. This bill would limit the prohibition on possessing a firearm to those felony convictions under the victim’s rights act, burglary, arson, or any felony involving the use of force or the use of a deadly weapon.
Status: Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee for action only; not yet calendared.

HB 13-1114  Concerning Penalties for Persons Who Drive While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs
Sponsors: Representatives Waller (R) and Fields (D)
CCJRC position: monitor
Description:  In a DUI prosecution, if the driver’s blood contains 5 nanograms or more of delta THC per milliliter in blood (based on a blood test), such fact gives rise to a permissible inference that the driver was under the influence.  This bill is based on a recommendation from the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.
Status: Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/12 at 1:30pm in Old Supreme Court Chambers

HB 13-1129  Concerning Creating the Evidence-Based Practices Implementation for Capacity Resource Center
Sponsors: Representative Pettersen (D) and Senator Newell (D)
CCJRC position: support
Description: This bill creates a resource center in the Division of Criminal Justice to promote evidence-based practices by criminal justice agencies. An advisory board will oversee the resource center which includes, at a minimum, the executive directors of the department of public safety, department of corrections, the department of human services, and the division of probation. The Division of Criminal Justice will report to the General Assembly by July 1, 2014 and every 3 years thereafter.  This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.
Status:  Scheduled before the House Judiciary Committee on 2/12 at 1:30 in the Old Supreme Court
HB13-1148  Concerning Changes to Aggravated Sentencing Provisions
Sponsors: Representative Foote (D) and Senator Roberts (R)
CCJRC position: priority support
Description: This bill repeals the extraordinary risk sentencing enhancer.  Also adds certain child abuse crimes and stalking crimes to the list of Crime of Violence offenses.  This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.
Status:  Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/19 at 1:30pm in HCR 112
HB13-1156 Concerning Creation of an Adult Diversion Program
Sponsors: Rep Levy (D) and Senator Steadman (D)
CCJRC position: priority support
Description: Creates a pre-filing diversion programs for adults statewide. The district attorney is required to develop eligibility guidelines and may enter into a diversion agreement with a defendant for up to two years without filing a criminal case against the defendant. This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.
Status:  Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/21 at 1:30pm in HCR 112
HB13-1160 Concerning Criminal Theft
Sponsors: Rep Pabon (D) and Senator King (R)
CCJRC position: priority support
Description: This bill repeals theft of rental property and theft by receiving as separate statutes and incorporates these crimes into the theft statute. It also changes the amount for various offense levels. This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.
Status:  Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/21 at 1:30pm in HCR 112

HB13-1210 Concerning Appointment of Legal Counsel During Plea Negotiations for Indigent Adult Defendants
Sponsors: Rep. Kagan (D) and Senator Steadman (D)
CCJRC position: support
Description: This bill will make Colorado law consistent with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the right to legal counsel during critical stages, including plea negotiations, this bill repeals the statute that requires an indigent person charged with a misdemeanor, petty offense, or motor vehicle or traffic offense to meet with the prosecuting attorney before legal counsel is appointed.
Status: Not yet calendared.

HB13-1214 Concerning the Classification of Certain Drunk Driving Offenses as Felonies
Sponsors: Rep. Waller (R)
CCJRC position: Monitor
Description: Under current law, a conviction for DUI, DUI per se, or DWAI  is considered a misdemeanor offense.  The bill states that such an offense is a class 5 felony if:

 the violation occurred not more than 7 years after the first of two prior convictions or if the defendant has 3 prior DUI or DWAI convictions
Status: Assigned to House Judiciary Committee 2/21 1:30 p.m. Room 0112

HB13-1217  Concerning Parole Eligibility of a Person Convicted of Vehicular Homicide
Sponsors: Rep. Szabo (R); Rep. Priola (R)
CCJRC position: Oppose
Description: Under current law a person who commits vehicular homicide and is sentenced to prison is eligible for parole after serving 50% of his or her sentence. The bill changes parole eligibility to 75% of the sentence served less earned time awarded if the person is convicted of vehicular homicide and has a serious previous driving offense conviction, including vehicular assault, DUI etc.
Status: Assigned to House State, Veterans, & Military Affairs; not yet calendared.

Colorado Death Penalty: Spending Millions To Execute Almost No One

Colorado Independent

With a bill to repeal the death penalty likely to be introduced in the 2013 Colorado Legislature, there are bound to be philosophical arguments about the merits of capital punishment. One thing that seems beyond debate, though, is that ending the death penalty could save Colorado taxpayers a lot of money.
No one can say exactly how much Colorado spends administering its death penalty, but it is certainly in the tens of millions of dollars for each person executed. A study by the Death Penalty Information Center in 2009 found that states with a death penalty spend an average of $10 million a year enforcing it. That same study said that 70 percent of the expense stems from legal work that’s not necessary in non-capital cases. Considering that Colorado executed one man in 1967 and one in 1997, the cost associated with killing almost no one quickly adds up.
“Since 1980, we [Colorado taxpayers] have spent tens of millions of dollars on one execution,” said criminal defense attorney David Lane who has represented many death-penalty eligible clients. “That’s money that could go to schools. It could go to police officers.”

“Since 1980, we have spent tens of millions of dollars on one execution.”

One man alone, Nathan Dunlap, is said to have cost the state around $18 million so far in trial costs and attorney fees. Dunlap–convicted in 1996 of the 1993 killing of four people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurant–is still on death row.
When a case meanders through the court system for 20 years as Dunlap’s case has, it is easy to see how it can get expensive for taxpayers. The public foots the bill for most defendants, who typically are indigent. State-funded defense teams usually have at least two attorneys, who are capped at a billing rate of $85 an hour. They also include at least one or two full-time investigators, who bill $39 hourly to review all evidence uncovered by police and to dig up new evidence that the police may have missed. For $25 an hour, at least one paralegal organizes all the scheduling and paperwork, which in a death case that is active for many years can easily run into tens of thousands of pages. Paralegals transcribe tapes of calls and meetings, arrange travel and court appearances, and keep up with massive amounts of correspondence.
Most cases also require a dozen or more expert witnesses whom the state pays whatever the market demands – often well above $200 an hour — plus travel and other expenses. “We try to pay less, believe me,” said Lindy Frolich, executive director of Colorado’s Alternate Defense Counsel, the state agency that appoints private defense teams when the state Public Defender’s Office has a conflict of interest.
Such conflicts arise when two defendants are being tried for the same crime and also at the appeal stage, when it would be hard for attorneys who lost a death case to then argue that they had screwed up.
Richard Dieter, executive director of national anti-death penalty group The Death Penalty Information Center, says several states have tried to cap how much can be spent on defense expenses. Some states haven’t wanted to pay for so-called mitigation specialists who look for mitigating factors in a defendant’s background that may persuade a jury not to hand down a death sentence. Their research entails deeply investigating many aspects of a client’s history such as school records, mental illness in the family and accounts from teachers, childhood friends and neighbors, to name a few. Although the hours are long and the cost is high, the law requires defense teams to prepare thorough defenses. “The Supreme Court has said you have to investigate a defendant’s past,” Dieter said. “You have to defend your client to the full extent that you can.”  READ THE REST

Rev. Elaine Smith

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Dr. Rev. Elaine Smith on Saturday, February 2, 2013.  CCJRC and many others have  lost a  long time friend, ally and champion.   Elaine started a program called Second Chance helping newly released inmates reintegrate back into society and was also the director of Charities House Ministries, a transitional housing program.  She also spearheaded the Denver chapter of All of Us or None, which brought together people who were involved in the criminal justice system to fought against discrimination. 
Her infectious spirit and joyfulness will be sorely missed in the community.  We offer our deep condolences to her family and other loved ones.  Details about services are included below.
From the Denver Post.
Dr. Rev. Elaine Smith Obituary
(1951 - 2013)
61, Centennial. Wife of David M. Smith of Centennial; mother of NeKesha (Bert) Bennett of Denver; and Niya Smith of Starkville, MS; 4 brothers, 1 sister and 10 grandchildren. A host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends. Services Saturday, 10:00 a.m., Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church, 1500 S. Dayton St., to Hampden Memorial Gardens. Visitation Friday, 4-6 p.m. and celebratory wake service 6-8 p.m. both at Taylor Mortuary Denver Chapel, 2531 Ogden St. PLEASE NOTE: Rev. Smith will lie in state on Saturday, 9-10 a.m. at the church.

2013 Legislative Update

Here’s our weekly legislative update.  Several new bills were introduced this week including:

• SB 123 (Senator Steadman) : expands the number of offenses that are eligible for record sealing.
• HB 1156 (Rep Levy): creates a statewide pre-filing diversion program for adults
• HB 1160 (Rep Pabon): makes changes to the theft statute and sets crime levels at higher amounts

You can read more on each below.  Bills are ordered in sequence, starting with Senate Bills (SB).

 

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

SB 13-07  Concerning the Repeal Date of the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice

Sponsors: Senator Morse (D) and Representative Waller (R)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  The Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) has a repeal date of July 1, 2013.  This bill would eliminate the repeal date and continue the CCJJ. This bill is based on a recommendation from the CCJJ.

Status:  Passed Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously (5-0) on 1/17.  Will next be heard on Senate Appropriations Committee – not yet calendared.

 

SB 13-014  Concerning the Use of Opiate Antagonists to Treat Persons Who Suffer Opiate-Related Drug Overdose Events

Sponsors: Senator Aguilar (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  This bill would provide immunity from criminal prosecution and immunity from civil liability if a person, acting in good faith, administers an opiate antagonist to another person whom the person believes to be suffering an opiate-related drug overdose. A licensed health-care practitioner who is permitted by law to prescribe or dispense an opiate antagonist shall be immune from criminal prosecution for and is not liable for any civil damages resulting from such prescribing.

Status:  Scheduled in the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on 2/14 at 1:30pm in SCR 352

 

SB 13-123 Concerning Provisions That Improve The Reintegration Opportunities for Persons Involved in the Criminal Justice System

Sponsors: Senator Steadman (D) and Representative Levy (D)

CCJRC position: support-priority

Description: Under current law, drug convictions are eligible for record sealing; this bill extends the eligibility for sealing to most other crimes. Sets specific waiting periods, other eligibility criteria, and procedures.  The bill also provides that a pardon issued by the governor waives all collateral consequences, unless the pardon limits the scope.

Status: Scheduled in Senate Judiciary Committee on 2/13 at 1:30pm in SCR 356

 

HB 13-1014 Concerning the Taking of Newspapers

Sponsors: Representative Levy (D) and Senator Steve King (R)

CCJRC position: support

Description: The bill moves the crime of newspaper theft and renames it interference with lawful distribution of newspapers. This bill is based on a recommendation from the Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status: Passed House Judiciary Committee 11-0 and passed House on 2^nd reading on 2/1. Will next be voted on by full House in 3^rd and final reading.

 

HB 13-1038 Concerning the Voting Rights of Individuals in the Custody of the Division of Youth Corrections within the Department of Human Services

Sponsors: Representative Rosenthal (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  For youths confined in a juvenile facility in the custody of the Division of Youth Corrections (DYC) who will be 18 years of age or older on the date of the next elections, this bill requires the administrator of DYC facilities to provide information and facilitate voter registration and voting by mail-in ballot.

Status:  Passed the House State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee 6-5 on 1/23.  Will next be heard in House Appropriations Committee on 2/8 at 7:30am in LSB-A.

 

HB 13-1082 Concerning Juvenile Delinquency Records

Sponsors: Representative Labuda (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  This bill requires the court to initiate expungement proceedings not more than thirty days after a juvenile’s sentence is expired; however, for a juvenile adjudicated as an aggravated juvenile offender or violent juvenile offender or adjudicated for a felony offense of unlawful sexual behavior, the court shall initiate expungement proceedings not more than five years after the sentence is discharged.  The bill also limits public access to arrest and criminal records information to those juveniles adjudicated for a class 1 felony or the crime of possession of a handgun by a juvenile.

Status: Assigned to House Judiciary Committee –  not yet calendared

 

HB 13-1085 Concerning Changes to the Crimes Eligible for Possession of Weapons by Previous Offenders

Sponsors: Representative Buck (R) and Senator Renfroe (R)

CCJRC position: support

Description:  Under current law, it is a crime for a person convicted of any felony offense to possess a firearm. This bill would limit the prohibition on possessing a firearm to those felony convictions under the victim’s rights act, burglary, arson, or any felony involving the use of force or the use of a deadly weapon.

Status: Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/5 at 1:30pm in HCR 112

 

HB 13-1114  Concerning Penalties for Persons Who Drive While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs

Sponsors: Representatives Waller (R) and Fields (D)

CCJRC position: monitor

Description:  In a DUI prosecution, if the driver’s blood contains 5 nanograms or more of delta THC per milliliter in blood (based on a blood test), such fact gives rise to a permissible inference that the driver was under the influence.  This bill is based on a recommendation from the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status: Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/12 at 1:30pm in Old Supreme Court Chambers

 

HB 13-1129  Concerning Creating the Evidence-Based Practices Implementation for Capacity Resource Center

Sponsors: Representative Pettersen (D) and Senator Newell (D)

CCJRC position: support

Description: This bill creates a resource center in the Division of Criminal Justice to promote evidence-based practices by criminal justice agencies. An advisory board will oversee the resource center which includes, at a minimum, the executive directors of the department of public safety, department of corrections, the department of human services, and the division of probation. The Division of Criminal Justice will report to the General Assembly by July 1, 2014 and every 3 years thereafter.  This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status:  Scheduled before the House Judiciary Committee on 2/12 at 1:30 in the Old Supreme Court

HB13-1148  Concerning Changes to Aggravated Sentencing Provisions

Sponsors: Representative Foote (D) and Senator Roberts (R)

CCJRC position: priority support

Description: This bill repeals the extraordinary risk sentencing enhancer.  Also adds certain child abuse crimes and stalking crimes to the list of Crime of Violence offenses.  This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status:  Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/19 at 1:30pm in HCR 112

HB13-1156 Concerning Creation of an Adult Diversion Program

Sponsors: Rep Levy (D) and Senator Steadman (D)

CCJRC position: priority support

Description: Creates a pre-filing diversion programs for adults statewide. The district attorney is required to develop eligibility guidelines and may enter into a diversion agreement with a defendant for up to two years without filing a criminal case against the defendant. This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status:  Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/21 at 1:30pm in HCR 112

HB13-1160 Concerning Criminal Theft

Sponsors: Rep Pabon (D) and Senator King (R)

CCJRC position: priority support

Description: This bill repeals theft of rental property and theft by receiving as separate statutes and incorporates these crimes into the theft statute. It also changes the amount for various offense levels. This bill is based on a recommendation by the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice.

Status:  Will be heard in House Judiciary Committee on 2/21 at 1:30pm in HCR 112

 

  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!

Fewer Inmates Means Colorado May Be Closing More Prisons

The Denver Post

Colorado's prison population is falling so quickly that state officials are once again considering closing prisons — a tough discussion given that prisons are often big employers in the counties where they are located.
"It looks like the whole system should be shrinking," said state Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, at a recent legislative hearing where Joint Budget Committee members discussed the decline in inmates and a consultant's ongoing study of which prisons should be closed or repurposed.
The study is due June 30.
In December, there were 2,109 empty beds in prisons across Colorado. Most were in private prisons, and the state is no longer paying for the space.
Budget and criminal-justice statisticians predict the number of unoccupied beds will rise to between 2,600 and 3,600 by June 2014.
Eliminating that much capacity could shut down two to 10 prisons, depending on the size of the facilities.
Colorado is already at 7,500 fewer inmates than it once expected in 2013 and has closed three state prisons.
"We think that is a really, really big deal," said Roxane White, chief of staff to Gov. John Hickenlooper, referring to both the continuing decline in prisoners and the prospect of saving money with further prison closures.
The choice of which prisons to close is complicated, state corrections officials and legislators say. The state must still have a mix of minimum- to maximum-security facilities. Some prisons are designed to use fewer guards, which reduces operating costs. It's not generally easy for prison staff to move from one city to another. Maintenance and energy use vary from prison to prison. Colorado, for example, still operates two prisons that opened more than a century ago.
"We are wrestling with what beds do we not need," Department of Corrections Director Tom Clements told a legislative committee recently.
The decline in prisoners is good news for the state, which saves tens of millions of dollars in the cost of housing them. But closing prisons can be bad news for the small towns that rely on them for jobs. Olney Springs in southeastern Colorado, for example, has a population of less than 400. A private prison there has room for 1,700 inmates.
"Unfortunately, a lot of those smaller communities were sold a bill of goods about (how) this is going to be good for your community — and it did create an economic boom for them," said Douglas Wilson, the state's chief public defender. "But now with the populations going down, I think the legislature's going to have to make some tough decisions about if they close, and if so, where do they close the prisons."
Experts point to a mix of reasons for the decline in prison population — including fewer prosecutions and changes in the way the prison system is run.
The state's felony crime rate dropped by a third from 2002 to 2011, Clements said. Possible reasons for that include reductions in punishment for marijuana-related crimes, successes of youth and gang-intervention programs, and an aging population that has resulted in fewer young people getting in trouble.
In addition, Clements, who became the state's corrections chief under Hickenlooper, brought a very different attitude from his predecessors, Wilson said. Parole and probation officers are giving second chances for minor infringements, like a single failed drug test or failure to show up for an appointment. Those offenders are not being sent back to prison.
A new state law also allows prisoners to earn more time off their sentences for good behavior, Clements said. Another new law lowered the penalties for minor drug possession, Wilson said. There is no longer a 24-year sentence for a parolee who walks away from his registered address at a homeless shelter.
The savings to Colorado taxpayers will vary significantly with the state's choices on what to cut. Not sending an inmate to a private prison saves the state about $20,000 a year. Closing the Fort Lyon prison in Las Animas saved nearly $27,000 per inmate. Shutting down one wing at the Trinidad prison has saved $5,800 per prisoner.
White told a health conference six weeks ago in Denver that the governor hopes to move the prison savings into health care, including better care in prisons. That might reduce prison population further, as a third of Colorado's inmates have mental illnesses.

Read more: Fewer inmates means Colorado may close more prisons - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_22457999?source=pop#ixzz2JBdHPLUC
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Ark. Governor Reverses Course on Death Penalty

SF Gate
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — After running for governor as a supporter of the death penalty, Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday that the experience of signing a death warrant for the first time caused his thinking on the issue to "evolve" and that he would sign legislation outlawing the punishment if legislators were to send him such a bill.
The Democratic governor doesn't plan to make repealing the death penalty part of his legislative agenda for this year's session, nor does he intend to ask any lawmaker to introduce such legislation, Beebe's spokesman, Matt DeCample, said. Several top lawmakers said it's unlikely legislators would propose a death penalty repeal.
Beebe said he changed his mind about the death penalty after having to sign his first death warrant.
"The awesome burden of being the last person to have to sign one of those things sobers you differently than talking about it in the abstract," Beebe said.
His remarks came in response to an audience question during his appearance at the Political Animals Club meeting at the governor's mansion.
Since taking office in 2007, Beebe has approved four executions, but none of those have been carried out because of various court challenges.
In signing the death warrants, Beebe said, he pored over "every word of the testimony" in search of a "scintilla" of doubt about the conviction. He said in all four cases, his review of the court papers convinced him of the person's guilt but that the experience of having to sign the order shifted his feelings about the death penalty.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Ark-governor-reverses-course-on-death-penalty-4199466.php#ixzz2IjPAfYSA

2013 Martin Luther King Marade

Denver’s Martin Luther King Jr. Marade

Come walk with CCJRC at the MLK Marade on Monday, January 21, 2013. 

We invite individuals and groups to walk with us, expressing support for our

   Campaign to End the “New Jim Crow”

Bring your own signs, placards, banners, shirts, etc. to show your support that it is time for Colorado to end the New Jim Crow
 Michelle Alexander sums up her book by stating: “Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination – employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service – are suddenly legal. As a criminal, you have scarcely more rights, and largely less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”
“The New Jim Crow in the Age of Colorblindness”, by Michelle Alexander

 “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

The event is usually very large and often somewhat confusing at the start.  Therefore, we will gather at the corner of 16^th and Esplanade (directly west of the East High School Main Entrance.)  Look for our big blue Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition banner
PROGRAM:  There is a short program starting at 10:00 AM at the “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream Monument”, in Denver City Park.  The Marade starts at 10:45.  CCJRC staff will be at 16^th and Esplanade starting at 9:30 AM.