The Chino Prison Riot

the New York Times

Around 200 inmates were injured, 55 seriously, over the weekend in an 11-hour prison riot in California that appears to have had strong racial overtones. Officials are still investigating, but a major cause is already clear: 5,900 men were being held in a facility designed for 3,000. The violence should serve as a warning to officials across the country not to try to balance state budgets by holding inmates in inhumane conditions.

California has already ignored too many warnings. In 2007, a state oversight agency declared that “California’s correctional system is in a tailspin.” That same year, a prison expert warned that the California Institution for Men in Chino, the site of the recent riot, was “a serious disturbance waiting to happen.”

Last week, just days before the riot, a three-judge federal panel ordered the state to reduce its prison population of more than 150,000 by about 40,000 within the next two years. That was the only way, the panel ruled, to bring the prison health care system up to constitutional standards.

The 184-page order painted a grim and alarming picture — with some state prison facilities at nearly 300 percent of intended capacity and some prisoners forced to sleep in triple-bunk beds in gymnasiums. “In these overcrowded conditions,” the court said, “inmate-on-inmate violence is almost impossible to prevent.”

California’s problem — like much of the nation’s — is a mismatch between its harsh sentencing policies and its willingness to pay to keep so many people locked up for so long. A few years ago, it went to the Supreme Court to defend its right, under the state’s three-strikes law, to sentence a shoplifter to 25 years to life.

A Loss For Voting Rights

The New York Times

Voting rights advocates have had little success challenging felon disenfranchisement laws in court. Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, became the latest federal court to uphold a ban on voting by convicted felons. Despite these setbacks, the cause is important. Voting rights advocates should keep fighting in the courts, state legislatures and Congress.

In 2000, Massachusetts changed its laws to prohibit felons in prison from voting. Until then, it was one of only three states that let felons vote from behind bars. Even with the change, Massachusetts remains one of just 13 jurisdictions that disenfranchise felons while they are incarcerated but not after they are freed.

A group of prisoners sued, arguing that their disenfranchisement violated the Voting Rights Act. The felons whose right to vote was taken away in Massachusetts are disproportionately black and Hispanic, the prisoners said, partly because of a bias in the justice system.

The appeals court, voting 2 to 1, threw out the suit at an early stage. When it passed the Voting Rights Act, the majority said, Congress did not intend to prohibit states from disenfranchising incarcerated felons.

In dissent, Judge Juan Torruella argued that the ban violated the Voting Rights Act’s plain language, which refers to adding voting qualifications in a manner that results in the denial of the right to vote on account of race. He would have allowed the case to proceed further so the plaintiffs could try to prove their claim.

Judge Torruella was right. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, reached a similar conclusion in another case, ruling that the plaintiffs should be able to try to prove their case. In a New York suit, Judge Sonia Sotomayor — in a dissent that has gotten considerable attention — also argued that the Voting Rights Act applies to felon disenfranchisement laws.

War Without Borders: Continues From Jail

New York Times

MEXICO CITY — The surveillance cameras captured it all: guards looking on nonchalantly as 53 inmates — many of them associated with one of Mexico’s most notorious drug cartels — let themselves out of their cells and sped off in waiting vehicles.

The video shows that prison guards only pulled out their weapons after the inmates were well on their way. The brazen escape in May in the northern state of Zacatecas — carried out in minutes without a single shot fired — is just one of many glaring examples of how Mexico’s crowded and cruel prison system represents a critical weak link in the drug war.

Mexico’s prisons, as described by inmates and insiders and viewed during several visits, are places where drug traffickers find a new base of operations for their criminal empires, recruit underlings, and bribe their way out for the right price. The system is so flawed, in fact, that the Mexican government is extraditing record numbers of drug traffickers to the United States, where they find it much harder to intimidate witnesses, run their drug operations or escape.

The latest jailbreak took place this weekend, when a suspected drug trafficker vanished from a Sinaloa prison during a party for inmates featuring a Mexican country music band. The Mexican government is considering isolating drug offenders from regular inmates to reduce opportunities for abuse.

Cornell To Put 1,000 Alaska Inmates In Colorado

The Denver Post

Cornell Companies Inc. says it expects to receive a contract from Alaska to house 1,000 state prisoners at a facility the company is building in Hudson in Weld County.

Cornell said Saturday that Alaska had sent it a "notice of intent to award" a contract for 1,000 male inmates.

Once the Colorado facility reaches full occupancy, the Houston-based company expects the contract to generate nearly $22 million in annualized operating revenues.

The new Colorado facility would be able to hold 1,250 beds. It is expected to be completed this year.

Time Magazine: Reforming Crack Cocaine Laws

Time Magazine

In early 2006, a young man named DeJarion Echols stood in a federal courtroom in Waco, Texas, and pleaded for leniency. After police found about 40 grams of crack cocaine, cash and an assault rifle in his bedroom, the promising athlete and father pleaded guilty to crack distribution and gun charges. "I made a bad choice" by dealing crack to pay for college, Echols, then 23, told U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. According to a court transcript, the judge declared in apparent frustration, "This is one of those situations where I'd like to see a congressman sitting before me." Then he did what federal law required: Smith sentenced Echols to two back-to-back 10-year prison sentences, one for each charge. Unless he gets a commutation, Echols will not go free till around 2026. (Read "The Disturbing Rise of Drug Gangs.")

As Echols serves his 20 years, reformers of drug sentencing laws are closing in on a goal that was unthinkable even a few years ago: scrapping the federal sentencing structure established in 1986 that gives far harsher penalties for crack cocaine than for powder cocaine, resulting in prisons packed with low-level, predominantly African American offenders. The mechanism is known as the "100-to-1 drug ratio," which gives crack cocaine 100 times the weight of powder cocaine. Under the ratio, a person convicted of selling five grams of crack — about the weight of a teaspoon of salt — triggers the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as a person convicted of selling 500 grams of powder cocaine, roughly the weight of a loaf of bread. (Read "U.N. World Drug Report.")

Even if that ratio is abolished, as appears increasingly likely, it's not clear that it will benefit offenders like Echols, who are already behind bars. The fates of tens of thousands of prisoners serving long sentences could hang in the balance as policymakers and politicians grapple with whether changes to the nation's crack laws should be applied retroactively.

The issue of crack sentencing goes to the heart of the credibility and fairness of the federal judicial system. The Department of Justice has launched a top-to-bottom review of sentencing and corrections policy, and crack-cocaine policy is a "vitally important" part of that, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer told TIME, so much so that the Administration fast-tracked its position on cocaine parity. "The criminal-justice system must be fair, and it must be perceived as being fair," Breuer says. "The 100-to-1 ratio between crack and powder is perhaps the single worst symbol of unfairness in the system. There really is no longer any basis for it."

SW Colorado Jail Population Down 20 Percent

Durango Herald
It was the last day of school and Matt Lewinski was feeling good.

He hopped into his 2002 Toyota pickup, spun a U-turn and kicked up some dust while leaving the parking lot April 24 at Fort Lewis College. A campus police officer witnessed the driving behavior and pulled him over.

Lewinski, 22, said, "I'm excited to be done and graduated," but the officer was unsympathetic and issued him a $150 ticket for careless driving.

"No one wants to get a ticket, so I argued it a little bit," Lewinski said.

Instead of losing four points off his driver's license, Lewinski agreed to meet the officer to discuss the situation and do a ride-along with police as part of his punishment.

"He was a really nice guy," Lewinski said. "We resolved whatever issue we had."

While Lewinski wasn't facing jail time, similar approaches have helped reduce the average daily inmate population by 20 percent this year at the La Plata County Jail, said District Attorney Todd Risberg.

Risberg mentioned Lewinski's case last week during a meeting with the La Plata County commissioners where inmate population was discussed.

Numerous other factors have helped reduce the inmate population, Risberg said, including drug court, intense supervision programs and speedy adjudication.

"I think a big part of this is resolving cases earlier," he said.

The sooner a case is resolved, the sooner an inmate can get out of jail and begin rehabilitation or be sent to the Department of Corrections. Most offenders get the same message by spending 10 days in jail instead of 20, so Risberg supports reasonable jail terms that change behavior while complying with the law.

The average length of stay at the La Plata County Jail has dropped from 22 days in 2008 to 13.5 days this year, said La Plata County Sheriff's Sgt. Bill Homes. The average daily population of inmates was 178 last year compared with 140 so far this year, he said.

Despite the drop, crime levels have been fairly consistent, Risberg said. The number of felony cases is about the same as last year, misdemeanors have decreased slightly and traffic cases are on the rise, he said.

Judges Diverge On Repeat DUI's

The Denver Post

Across Colorado, repeat drunken drivers pay vastly different prices for their crimes — despite a state law that is supposed to mean jail for all of them.

An analysis of four years of sentencing data by The Denver Post found cases of people with as many as seven drunken-driving arrests who avoided going to jail and were allowed, instead, to serve alternative sentences. Sometimes that meant hanging out at home — a reality that perplexes Adams County District Attorney Don Quick.

"You shouldn't get grounded for your seventh DUI," Quick said.

The Post analysis of data compiled by the Office of the State Court Administrator between 2005 and 2008 also found an Arapahoe County judge who issued jail sentences in more than 90 percent of those repeat cases and judges in neighboring Adams County who locked up defendants in similar cases less than 40 percent of the time.

The discrepancy, according to judges, lawyers and other experts, is the result of the collision between judicial philosophy and legal interpretation against the overriding reality of full jails.

"The thing about jail, the sheriffs don't have any space," said Denver County Judge Raymond Satter.

Satter also said that handing out an alternative sentence gives him the chance to order treatment that is likely to be more effective than what an inmate would get behind bars.

Quick, for one, was not swayed by that argument.

"I think it's a treatment issue when they get drunk and watch TV at home," Quick said. "When they drive, it's a criminal issue."

Republican Moms For Marijuana

Colorado Daily

As a Republican mother committed to legalizing marijuana, political life can be lonely. But while many in my party whisper about the Drug War's insanity, we should shout it from the rooftop: the time to legalize is now.

Calling for a new approach doesn't make me a pothead. In fact, while I freely admit to having previously smoked marijuana -- as do more than 95 million other Americans, including our last three presidents -- I choose not to be an active marijuana user today.

While opponents may argue that legalization is all about a bunch of twentysomethings wanting to get high, the debate deserves a more respectful and truthful analysis.

Take medical marijuana. On July 20, Colorado's Health Board voted down a proposal that would have effectively shuttered the medical marijuana dispensaries serving as crucial sources of legal marijuana across the state. As a result, courageous patients, including AIDS survivor Damien LaGoy, will not have to take to dangerous streets to obtain marijuana.

Instead, the state's nearly 10,000 patients can continue their existing relationships with dispensaries, many of who deliver to the homebound and hold extensive knowledge about the benefits and side effects of specific strains.

To LaGoy, who weighs just 100 pounds, marijuana is the only medicine proven to effectively combat the nausea he faces from his pharmaceutical medications.

Even outside of medical uses, support for outright legalization is skyrocketing. An April ABC News-Washington Post poll concluded that national support stands at 46 percent.

Already, there is talk that Colorado may see a legalization bill in 2010. In 2006, voters were asked to legalize small amounts for adult consumption. Forty-four percent said yes -- more than the number supporting the GOP's gubernatorial candidate. With one more vote in every 10, Colorado could become the first state to lift prohibition entirely.

If history is any guide, the crucial female voting bloc, including many Republicans, will provide the political will essential to making this happen.

In 1929, it was the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform successfully leading the charge to end America's decade-long experiment with alcohol prohibition. While many of these same activists fought just years earlier to forbid booze, they quickly witnessed prohibition's devastating consequences, including increased violence.

Prison Jobs Not A Hard Sell

The Denver Post

HUDSON — Some are desperate, many are just starting out, and others want a fresh lease on life.

None are skittish about working in a 1,250-bed men's medium-security prison. They also aren't against putting down roots in a town carved by unpaved roads and a truck stop as one of its biggest amenities.

"I'm a small-town girl at heart," said Tina Coffman, who was among the 400 or so who had applied by Thursday morning for jobs at the soon-to-open Hudson Correctional Facility.

Coffman wants to be a dental assistant at the prison and move from Littleton to the Weld County community of 1,600 with her two teenage sons.

Raising two teens in the big city is tough, said Coffman, who figures it will be easier to keep track of them in a place where a $2.5 million street-paving plan will be celebrated by a parade in September.

"With two teenage boys, this a good place to be," Coffman said.

Thursday was the second job fair in Hudson sponsored by Cornell Companies Inc. The private-prison operator expects to hire as many as 250 people by the time the prison opens in early 2010.

The company's first job fair last week drew more than 900 people, mostly from Hudson and surrounding communities. Thursday's, held at the First Baptist Church, was open to all comers.

DOC July Population Reports

Monthly Report

Acquitted Pot Patient Leaves Court With Drugs

Daily Camera

BOULDER, Colo. — Rolling out of the Boulder County Justice Center in a wheelchair Thursday with a jumble of once-confiscated pot in his lap, Jason Lauve smiled and waved to supporters after a jury acquitted him of possessing too much medical marijuana.

Eight men and four women found the 38-year-old Louisville resident not guilty of a felony drug possession charge, as well as lesser charges of possessing marijuana and marijuana concentrate.

Lauve, who was prescribed marijuana to relieve the pain from a back injury, burst out crying, grabbed his defense attorney and nearly fell to his knees when the verdict was announced.

"Thank you so much," he yelled out to the jurors.

Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter had to pause and admonish Lauve's supporters as they applauded and called out during her reading of the verdicts.

She ordered that more than two pounds of Lauve's marijuana supply, which had been confiscated by police in a raid of his home last summer, be returned to him.

"I have a right to live," Lauve said afterward. "All of us as patients have a right to have our own life, not the government's life. We should not be treated like criminals."

Laurie Borgers, a medical marijuana patient from Denver, said she was elated by the verdict.

"I am happy and relieved as expected to see justice was served today," she said outside the courtroom. "They need to stop picking on sick people."

From the Slammer To The Streets and Back Again

The Boulder Weekly
For prison parolees, transitioning from life behind bars to life in society is not without its barriers. Stable employment can be difficult to find with a criminal record. Affordable housing complexes are free to reject an individual whose last address was in a Colorado state prison. And simply readjusting to a completely different lifestyle as a free individual has its own stresses. But, as an Aug. 4 report released by the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) indicates, all of those factors can be compounded when the person released from prison is homeless, and it’s an issue that begs public response, especially during a state budget crisis.

The study, titled “Homelessness and parole: A survey of Denver’s shelters,” tackles this topic. Its findings are many: A little less than half of the parolees interviewed were homeless for the first time in their lives; their unemployment rate is significant (71 percent); and access to mental-health services or even required parole visitations (meetings, urinalysis tests) felt limited and oftentimes overwhelming to those surveyed. The study was conducted after Denver shelter employees consistently relayed a perceived increase in the amount of homeless parolees in their facilities.

“Most people want to start over,” says Carol Peeples, re-entry coordinator with CCJRC and the author of the report. “They want to make a concerted effort, and the only time you hear otherwise is when people are so frustrated that they can’t make it — the doors are not open and they are not able to access services, not able to get a job, not able to do what they need to do.”

And it’s a problem that may be further complicated by an impending shelter closure. The Metro Denver Salvation Army announced on July 29 that it will be closing its overnight shelter as of Aug. 10, 2009. The 1901 29th St. shelter (known as Crossroads) also happens to be the same location where the CCJRC report found most parolees living (83 percent of those interviewed resided at Crossroads).

Roger Miller of the Metro Denver Salvation Army Public Relations Office noted that the closure of the Crossroads shelter is part of an effort to better serve the homeless population of Denver by transferring their focus toward their more transitional programs.

TX: After 15 Years Waitlist For Treatment Ends

NEWS - Journal

For the first time since the Texas prison system's substance-abuse treatment programs began nearly 15 years ago, amid controversy over their cost and effectiveness, programs have no waiting list, prison officials said Tuesday.

In years past, thousands of drug- and alcohol-addicted convicts had to wait for months — in some cases years — for space to open up in the treatment programs, filling prisons with felons who could have been paroled, and confounding a smooth transition of convicts from prisons to programs to parole.

But officials said that because the Legislature voted two years to ago greatly expand the treatment programs, the chronic backlog that had plagued them since their inception, at the behest of then-Gov. Ann Richards, is now gone. At the same time, the prison population has decreased slightly in recent months, part of a national trend.

"It shows all the parts of our criminal justice system are working together right now ... and that's the first time in 16 years that I've been able to say that," said Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, a Democrat from Houston who helped Richards push the treatment programs through the Legislature in the early 1990s.

"This will go down as a very important day in the history of our system," he said. "What it will mean for most Texans is it will enhance public safety. If inmates can get the treatment they need, when they need it, they will come out a better person than when they came in."

It was not clear how long the absence of a waiting list would last.

Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said the waiting lists had dwindled until Friday, when all major prison substance-abuse treatment programs caught up with demand — thanks in part to the recent opening of a 400-bed contract treatment center in Burnet.

Another treatment center with 550 bunks is slated to open soon in the East Texas city of Henderson, she said

Jerry Brown Denounces Court Order For Release Of Prisoners

LA Times

Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has denounced a court order to release more than one out of every four state prisoners in California as counterproductive interference by judicial activists, and said state officials were still deliberating Wednesday whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

While acknowledging that Tuesday's ruling by a three-judge federal panel aims to resolve the same problems with severe prison overcrowding that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to, Brown said the court's latest edict on how to improve the corrections system has only contributed to the "Kafka-esque nightmare" confronting the cash-strapped state.

Federal court edicts already have imposed 19 consent decrees on state agencies trying to improve conditions in the prisons, requiring state officials to devote scarce resources to legal reports and to pay the costs of prisoners' lawsuits as well as those of the state attorneys who defend against them, Brown said.

"There are too many cooks in the kitchen here," Brown said of the court orders governing prison management. "There's no limit to what the courts want the state to spend on its prisoners."

Brown, who is expected to run for governor next year, said he would recommend to Schwarzenegger that the state appeal the court decision imposing a cap on California's prison population that will require the release of nearly 43,000 prisoners over the next two years.

US To Look At Detention Policy For Immigrants

New York Times

The Obama administration intends to announce an ambitious plan on Thursday to overhaul the much-criticized way the nation detains immigration violators, trying to transform it from a patchwork of jail and prison cells to what its new chief called a “truly civil detention system.”

Details are sketchy, and even the first steps will take months or years to complete. They include reviewing the federal government’s contracts with more than 350 local jails and private prisons, with an eye toward consolidating many detainees in places more suitable for noncriminals facing deportation — some possibly in centers built and run by the government.

The plan aims to establish more centralized authority over the system, which holds about 400,000 immigration detainees over the course of a year, and more direct oversight of detention centers that have come under fire for mistreatment of detainees and substandard — sometimes fatal — medical care.

One move starts immediately: the government will stop sending families to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a former state prison near Austin, Tex., that drew an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit and scathing news coverage for putting young children behind razor wire.

“We’re trying to move away from ‘one size fits all,’ ” John Morton, who heads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as assistant secretary of homeland security, said in an interview on Wednesday. Detention on a large scale must continue, he said, “but it needs to be done thoughtfully and humanely.”

Hutto, a 512-bed center run for profit by the Corrections Corporation of America under a $2.8 million-a-month federal contract, was presented as a centerpiece of the Bush administration’s tough approach to immigration enforcement when it opened in 2006. The decision to stop sending families there — and to set aside plans for three new family detention centers — is the Obama administration’s clearest departure from its predecessor’s immigration enforcement policies.

Life On The Street: "It Sucks"

Westword
Three years ago, in a feature titled "Over and Over Again," I looked at one of the primary reasons for the staggering failure rate of parolees in Colorado. That would be the fact that more and more prisoners are paroling homeless, with no job prospects and little preparation for what they're going to face living in a shelter or on the street. Before long the majority of them end up back in prison -- not for new crimes, usually, but for technical violations of their parole conditions, like not making curfew at the shelter or paying all the fees and restitution associated with their release.

This week, the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition released a survey of parolees stashed in shelters, and the upshot of their fine work is that very little has changed since 2006. In fact, with the economy in the tank and even the kind of jobs parolees can get (asbestos removal, mine field sweeping) in short supply, it seems to be getting worse.

The Piton Foundation has estimated that a quarter of Denver's parolees are either in shelters or temporary housing. The CCJRC folks decided to survey parolees found at the eight emergency shelters in town and came back with some grim stats. More than sixty percent of them had no re-entry courses before leaving prison, "with the most prevalent reason being that a class was not offered."

More than two-thirds of the respondents were unemployed, and more than half of them hadn't had a job at all since they got out. Many mentioned ongoing issues getting mental-health treatment or staying off drugs and alcohol, especially when surrounded by winos and junkies of all kinds in shelters. When you take into account that 40 percent of all admissions to the state prisons are simply parolees coming back from a brief try at the streets, you have to wonder why our budget-conscious lawmakers aren't doing more to get these folks out of the revolving door, thereby saving hundreds of millions of dollars in additional incarceration costs.

"It sucks. I'm broke. Nobody wants to help. Every door you go to gets shut," one parolee told CCJRC. "You feel like you're getting set up for failure."

Carol Peeples, the CCJRC re-entry coordinator who put together the report, says it's a combination of various hurdles that prevent the homeless from completing parole, including a 2001 city ordinance that makes it difficult for them to find temporary housing. "I was struck by the number of changes that could help," Peeples says. "Nothing glamorous, but small things, from case management to the way parole officers handle certain situations."

Although she surveyed eight locations, Peeples discovered that more than eighty percent of the shelter parolees were concentrated in one location -- the Salvation Army's Crossroads Overnight Shelter for Men on 29th Street, which happens to be the only one that accepts sex offenders. That isn't a good situation, not only because of the drug use in the immediate vicinity, but also because Crossroads recently announced that it will be closing down its shelter functions and turning into a transitional living facility. That will leave parole officers scrambling to find new beds for people already teetering on the edge of nowhere.

Tags: Alan Prendergast, Carol Peeples, Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, Piton Foundation

Prosecutor Denies Violating Rights In ID Probe

the Denver Post
DENVER—Colorado authorities say they did not violate anyone's privacy rights when they seized thousands of tax documents to investigate undocumented immigrants for identity theft.

In a late Monday filing, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck and Sheriff John Cook also said a judge erred in halting the probe.

They asked the Colorado Supreme Court to overturn the April ruling by District Court Judge James Hiatt and argued there is substantial evidence that hundreds of undocumented immigrants were stealing people's identities to file their taxes through a tax preparer.

Immigration experts say it was the first and only time authorities have used confidential records from an income tax preparer to prosecute undocumented immigrants.

The Internal Revenue service requires everyone who earns income in the U.S. to file taxes regardless of legal status, and undocumented immigrants have a tax liability of billions of dollars.

City Left Out In The Cold On Shelter Decision

Rocky Mountain Independent
By Tillie Fong
tillie.fong@rmindependent.com

City officials and advocates for the homeless were caught by surprise last week when the Salvation Army announced that it is closing its Crossroads overnight shelter in Denver. The decision will put dozens of homeless men — including sex offenders — on the streets, and officials are scrambling to find them alternative housing.

“We learned about it last Thursday, and the shift in service was a surprise to us,” said Jamie Van Leeuwen, project manager for Denver’s Road Home program. “We’ve been having ongoing dialogue with the Salvation Army and other homeless providers to better understand their impact on homeless services in Denver.”

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless also was caught unawares.

“We’re literally just becoming aware of this now,” said BJ Iacino, spokeswoman for the coalition. ”We’re just trying to understand what it means and what its impact on us. . . . We do not have enough information, so we’re scrambling.”

The Salvation Army’s decision last Wednesday to no longer maintain an overnight shelter at Crossroads, 1901 29th St., is part of a shift in focus toward getting homeless people into transitional housing.

“Some people have been staying there for years, and we feel that is not appropriate,” said Capt. Ron McKinney, the Salvation Army’s metro Denver coordinator. “We are giving everyone a chance to get into the transitional housing program and give them the tools for self-sufficiency. It’s their choice, but we feel we owe it to them and to our donors that we break the cycle of homelessness.”

The overnight shelter will be closed as of Aug. 10. However, after meeting with community officials, the Salvation Army will allow sex offenders to stay at the Crossroads shelter through the end of the month.

Where do the sex offenders go?

Shelter Closing Has DOC Scrambling

The Denver Channel
DENVER -- The Department of Corrections and the Denver Police Department told 7NEWS they were scrambling to find alternative housing for roughly 100 registered sex offenders who currently stay at Crossroads, an overnight men's shelter run by the Salvation Army.Last week, the Salvation Army announced they would be closing the shelter by mid-August. The city and law enforcement urged them to keep it open until Aug. 31.Sex offenders told 7NEWS that housing isn't easy to come by because of the stigma associated with the crime. They said they can't find a job and can't find a place to live.

Law enforcement officers said they understand, which is why they believe Crossroads worked so well for these men.In many cases, the DOC even paid the $35 a week required for a bed. DOC spokesman Tim Hand said the Dept. of Corrections had to find and provide a transitional housing situation for men who couldn't afford it and Crossroads made it easier for them to monitor the offenders in their system.Now, the DOC will be forced to go to the families of sex offenders and ask them to take these men in. If that doesn't work they will be forced to put them in motels.Hand said the Dept. of Corrections will have to look at their budget because the money comes out of their general fund and they were not prepared for Crossroads' closing.In response to questions regarding tracking men under their watch, Hand said all 70 sex offenders registered at Crossroads had some form of electronic monitoring device.Finding sex offenders a place to live did prompt 7NEWS to ask the city why the "Road Home" initiative didn't address the issue.The Department of Human Services said it was reviewing the "crack in the system" and law enforcement and homeless providers were in talks to find all homeless a place to live.

Previous Stories:

• August 3, 2009: Will Shelter's Closure Mean More Sex Offenders On Streets?
• July 29, 2009: Salvation Army Closes Overnight Shelter

Homelessness and Parole

CCJRC_HomelessReport

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact

Carol Peeples, Re-entry Coordinator

carol@ccjrc.org

303.825.0122

(DENVER, Colorado) August 4, 2009 – Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) released a report today that examines the growing rate of homelessness among people leaving prison. The first-of-its-kind report explores why as many as one-fourth of the parolees in Denver are homeless after release from prison.

CCJRC undertook the study of 48 homeless men and women on parole after shelter providers voiced concerns about the rising number of homeless parolees.

“This report is vital in showing the changes and challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that parolees are successful with employment and re-entry to their communities, thus reducing costs to the taxpayer,” said Deborah Ortega, Regional Services Director for Denver Human Services.

The CCJRC report found a 71% unemployment rate for the parolees interviewed. “Besides trying to find a job, parolees also struggled to find clothes, get their ID, get to parole meetings and classes, get tested for drugs, etc. And they do it all by bus,” said Carol Peeples, Re-entry Coordinator for CCJRC and the report’s author.

Some parolees described being frightened or overwhelmed. “You know when you take a cat out and dump it off?” said one parolee. “That’s what you feel like. You’re scared. ” Another parolee said, “No doors open to people. I shave, I shower every day. Still, people look at you like you’re a bucket of slime. I used to be a strong person. That’s all gone.”

“With the state looking to save money in corrections, people should start looking pretty closely at how hard it is to start over after getting out of prison, especially if you’re homeless,” said Peeples. “We are churning people back into our prisons at an untenable rate.” During fiscal year 2008, 3,353 people admitted to Colorado’s prisons were people who had been released from prison but re-incarcerated for a technical violation of their parole.

“Homelessness and Parole: A Survey of Denver’s Shelters” is the most recent report from CCJRC, a nonprofit organization that works to reduce the rate of incarceration in Colorado. The report contains eleven recommendations where changes in policies and practices may help reduce the number of people reduced homeless from corrections or shorten the length of time parolees are homeless.

The full report is attached to this press release. It is also available online at www.ccjrc.org.