Signature Gatherers May Have Records

Just another attempt to wipe out one more felon friendly opportunity for folks. Why don't people understand that public safety is far more compromised when people who are returning from prison are unable to get jobs. These are people who have successfully completed their sentences and are trying to get on with their lives. I am surprised that 9 news would be this irresponsible and go for a story where one doesn't exist. Especially when nothing has happened and this has been an opportunity for people make a living.

KUSA ? Some people gathering signatures for ballot initiatives who approach Coloradans have criminal records, according to court record searches conducted by 9Wants to Know.

9NEWS found signature gatherers convicted of sexual assault on a child, theft, harassment, trespassing and drug possession. Most signature gatherers are hired by private companies and paid for each signature they receive.

The gatherers we watched were asking for signatures for more than one ballot initiative.

People who sign petitions are required to give their name, signature and their home address.

"It's a little frightening," said House Majority Leader Alice Madden (D-Boulder).

Madden authored a bill, that passed the House and Senate but was vetoed by Gov. Bill Ritter, which would have prohibited convicted felons from being paid signature gatherers.

Ritter (D-Colorado) says he vetoed the bill because it would have only affected paid petition circulators and not volunteer petition circulators. He felt that allowing paid and unpaid gatherers to operate by different sets of standards violated the U.S. Constitution and the Colorado Constitution. (Click here to read Ritter's full explanation.)

Madden says signature gatherers need some oversigh
9 News

Groups Team Up To Help Inmates Readjust

Grant-funded program will provide medical care, counseling, prescriptions and life-skills classes

July 9, 2008 - 12:02AM

BY BRIAN NEWSOME

THE GAZETTE

A new program led by local charities will provide medical care, mental health treatment and life-skills training for inmates being released from prison, an effort that organizers hope will keep them from returning to a life of crime.

The ex-offender program is being funded by a $375,000, three-year Catholic Health Initiatives grant and appears to be the first of its kind in Colorado. Organizers plan to use the pilot program to help other communities interested in starting something similar, said Zelna Joseph, president and chief executive officer of SET Family Medical Clinics, the charity health care provider leading the program.

The concept hinges on the belief that a healthy exoffender with easy access to community resources is more likely to get and keep a job.

SET is partnering with two charity health care providers, Open Bible and Mission Medical Clinic, and the Harbor House Collaborative, a charity for the homeless and substance abusers. Together, the groups will provide basic medical care, mental health prescriptions, counseling and life-skills classes for people re-entering society after prison.

The groups will spend the next several months working out program details. The plan is to begin seeing patients by Oct. 1.

Under the plan, SET will handle basic medical care, while Open Bible will provide mental health treatment and prescriptions for conditions such as bipolar disorder or depression. Mission Medical plans to take patients with both physical and mental conditions, and Harbor House will provide life-skills training and counseling, Joseph said. SET also hopes to be a clearinghouse for other community services such as housing or work programs, Joseph said.

The Gazette

Black Panther Conviction Overturned

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a former Black Panther in the 1972 stabbing death of a Louisiana prison guard.

Albert Woodfox, who was held in solitary confinement for over 30 years, is one of three former Panthers known as the "Angola Three." He and two other black prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola were convicted in the killing of guard Brent Miller on April 17, 1972.

U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a ruling late Tuesday approving a federal magistrate's June recommendation that Woodfox's conviction be overturned because one of his former lawyers failed to object to a prosecutor's testimony about a witness' credibility. Brady also found that Woodfox's trial lawyer failed to object to testimony from a witness who had died after the trial.

Woodfox's decades in solitary confinement attracted worldwide attention from activists who called him a political prisoner.

Nick Trenticosta, the New Orleans-based defense lawyer who handled the appeal, said Woodfox's immediate future lies in the hands of prosecutors, who could request a new trial. Trenticosta said he hoped Woodfox to be released without another trial.

"The man was convicted on false evidence, and he's been held in solitary for almost 40 years. Let's release him," Trenticosta said.

Rocky Mountain News

Broderick Cleared In Master's Case

Report cites flaws but no malfeasance in Masters case

BY TREVOR HUGHES
TrevorHughes@ coloradoan.com

The special prosecutor who reviewed allegations of misconduct against Fort Collins police Lt. James Broderick during the Timothy Masters prosecution found "disturbing" flaws in the case that could have altered the outcome, but concluded no criminal charges are warranted.

Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck said problems with the crime-scene analysis, turnover among lead detectives and the 11-year delay between the 1987 fatal stabbing and mutilation of Petty Hettrick and Masters' 1988 arrest "compounded" the flaws, which he called misfeasance, not malfeasance.

Masters was convicted by a jury and spent nearly 10 years in prison before new DNA testing techniques pointed toward a different suspect.

"You have to come to the conclusion, as I did, that people made mistakes in this case," Buck said Tuesday. "I don't think the mistakes were minor."

In Broderick's case, Buck said the detective failed to testify completely about shoeprint evidence that could have exonerated Masters.

'Much closer case'

Police and prosecutors persuaded a jury that Masters, then 15, snuck out of the trailer home he shared with his father, snuck up behind Hettrick as she walked alongside a field, stabbed her in the back, sexually mutilated her, then snuck back home without leaving any physical evidence directly tying him to her death.

Buck also noted - as have other special prosecutors - that evidence that should have been given to defense attorneys was never made available to either prosecutors or defense attorneys by police.

Specifically, Buck noted that police never provided a complete transcript of a recorded conversation between Masters and his father, Clyde, the day after Hettrick's body was found. A copy of the recording itself was given to both prosecutors and defenders.

The coloradoan

Activist Studio Takes On Criminal Justice

July 7, 2008

www.freespeech.org

Free Speech TV’s The Activist Studio hosts prison reform organizers Christie Donner and Imani Latif.

The Activist Studio brings together activists and non-profits to talk about their projects, issues, hurdles, and success stories. In this week's episode, Christie Donner, Executive Director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, and It Takes A Village Executive Director Imani Latif will join host Ashara Ekundayo. They will discuss their roles in criminal justice organizing and the issues of substance abuse treatment, reentry into society, and HIV in prison populations.

The program will air on Free Speech TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415) at the following times. Please note all times are MDT:

WED, July 9 @ 12:00pm and 4:00pm
THU, July 10 @ 12:30am
SAT, July 12 @ 12:00am
SUN, July 13 @ 12:30pm

Denver Open Media (Comcast Ch. 56, 57, 129) co-produces The Activist Studio and broadcasts the program for Denver area viewers. Check www.denveropenmedia.org for their broadcast schedule.

Clemency Board Makes Inroads

Nearly a year after Gov. Bill Ritter established the nation's first juvenile-clemency board, the panel has delved into individual cases — and could soon make its first recommendations on whether to offer some young offenders a second chance.

After establishing eligibility criteria and crafting an application process, the board reviewed two cases at its June 20 meeting, has given four others serious consideration and expects several more to be in the pipeline soon.

Some final clemency decisions likely will come before the end of the year, said Mark Noel, the state director for extradition and clemency. Adult clemency traditionally has been announced around Christmastime.

"This is all new ground," Noel said. "We've had inquiries from all over the world about this board. It's a very careful, serious, deliberate process. These are murder cases. You don't want to rush something like this."

The panel spent months devising a process for juveniles to apply for clemency and working with the Department of Corrections to get the system up and running. Ritter introduced the board as a political compromise to address some cases among at least 45 offenders already sentenced as juveniles to life without parole.

Juvenile-justice advocates, while frustrated by the slow pace so far, still hope the clemency board will turn out to be more than just political window dressing.

"We're not asking that they all come out," said Mary Ellen Johnson, executive director of the Denver-based Pendulum Foundation, a juvenile-justice advocacy group. "We're asking for a realistic chance. One out of 100 is not realistic. I'd like to see 15 of the 45 (serving life without parole) have a realistic chance."

Johnson said her organization also would like to work with the Department of Corrections to implement programs designed to prepare young offenders for life outside of prison walls.

"We don't think, like some (offenders') family members, that you just wave a magic wand and they come out," she said. "It's not going to happen."

Mindful that clemency always carries political risks, she proposes a conditional commutation, in which a juvenile who successfully completes a cognitive-behavior program would go into a halfway house and then gradually acclimate to society.

The Denver Post

Behind Bars By Mistake

Women tell how police arrested them on warrants describing other people

By Sarah Langbein, Special to the Rocky

Christina FourHorn and Valerie Rodriguez were not guilty of anything more serious than having names similar to two wanted women.

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But that was enough to land each in jail.

Both women were put behind bars by Denver police based on arrest warrants meant for someone else. Their legal teams at the American Civil Liberties Union allege their incarcerations were a result of sloppy detective work by the Denver Police Department. In each case, a simple check of the physical descriptions and other identifying information would have told police they had the wrong women, they said.

So they fought back.

'This has to be a mistake'

Rodriguez, 32, turned to a Denver television station to bring attention to her plight when her own detective work couldn't clear her name.

The Aurora woman was stunned that her application for a seasonal job at the post office revealed a supposed criminal past.

"I kept thinking: 'No way, this has to be a mistake,' " she said.

So she quickly called back the post office and asked them to double-check their records. They must have made a mistake, she told them.

But the postal employee said their records showed she was wanted for assault and disturbing the peace.

A trip to the Denver courthouse provided some answers but not enough. So she began calling around to different police districts for clarification. But when that got her nowhere, she drove to police headquarters.

That landed her in jail.

Rocky Mountain News

Real World 101

Can we widen the net on programs like these? I hope that they are doing a redicivism rate anaylsis on this.

BOULDER — When Manny Gonzales Jr. first caught wind of a jail program aimed at teaching inmates the skills needed to stay out of the criminal justice system, he had doubts — serious doubts.

“I personally thought that it wouldn’t last, that it wouldn’t make it,” he said.

Gonzales, 37, is a longtime veteran of the inside of jails and prisons, and he thought the mentality of the jail population would stunt the potential of the transitions module at the Boulder County Jail.

Now Gonzales is one of 64 inmates who live in the year-old module and take a course load specifically designed for their particular needs once they are released. He and others like him consider the program a golden opportunity unlike any they have ever encountered while locked up.

“I am not just sitting here doing nothing,” Gonzales said. “I am bettering myself.

Transitions

The transitions module at the Boulder County Jail was founded in April 2007 as an offshoot of the Intensive Drug Treatment Court Program. Using resources from the jail, Boulder County Criminal Justice Services and the local courts, an entire mod at the jail that houses up to 64 was dedicated to the program. Inmates who show an interest and aptitude for curriculum designed to teach them real-world skills are allowed to live in the module away from the general population.

Cmdr. Bill Black at the Boulder County Jail helps to run the new program with Sgt. Sue Yankovich. He said the idea is to help curb recidivism by teaching inmates the life skills they will need to handle their freedom and avoid the pitfalls of criminal lifestyles.

“Our target population is people who are mid-30s and have extensive criminal histories, because they are looking to finally change their lifestyle,” Black said. “People that are younger still like their lifestyles out there.”

Boulder County’s program is still in its infancy, but programs like it are still rare in Colorado. Black said El Paso County won a federal grant to fund a similar program, but it was founded after Boulder County’s in August 2007. Black and Yankovich plan to tour El Paso County’s program to learn more about its approach.

Boulder County used $75,000 from the State Criminal Assistance Program to launch the program. Organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and others help to find instructors.

Black said he has a personal stake in helping inmates learn.

“I know they are coming back into the community I live in,” he said.

Meanwhile, inmates at the Boulder County Jail are keeping the module filled and active. Inmates attend classes and complete homework.

“That is what they are learning that they never have before — to think before they act,” Yankovich said.

Women in the program live in the women’s module and attend most classes separately. Yankovich said between eight and 15 women have been in the program at any one time.

Anecdotally, she said, the program seems to be working, because she doesn’t see many from the program who are released return. However, the program is still young.

Classes cover academic, psychological and physical topics. Inmates may be placed in classes covering anger management, relationship topics, domestic violence, managing emotions, post-traumatic stress disorder and coping skills. Some may take classes in art and literature, GED preparation, conversational Spanish and writing. Religious studies, yoga and mediations also are offered. Instructors from outside the system, including a University of Colorado professor, are among those who lead sessions.

Not all inmates are allowed to join the module. Those who show interest are screened through an assessment called Adult Pretrial Testing, or APT, which helps to determine whether they are serious and which classes may help them reach their goals.

Longmont Times Call

Single Mom's Poverty Spikes After Welfare Reform

As we look at all the reasons that the prison population has exploded, especially for women. It is important that we do long term assessments of how policy changes affect people, and how do we create a safety net for those who can't comply.

The ranks of poor single mothers have grown since the 1996 welfare overhaul that weakened their safety net, and 30 percent now live with neither job income nor public assistance.

Milwaukee - In 2001, Lisa Craig snuck out of her home in Chicago and boarded a bus for Milwaukee with her three children, leaving behind an abusive husband, a stable job and most of her possessions.

The elimination in 1996 of federal welfare entitlements had its roots here in Wisconsin, where voters in the 1980s were angered over perceptions that poor Chicago "welfare queens" were heading north to take advantage of more generous programs. But Craig headed north because she had family there to help her.

After a short stay with her sister, Craig took her children - aged 1 to 8 - to a homeless shelter. In order to receive a monthly welfare payment of about $600, she entered a three-month training program with the hope of a landing a job at the end of it.

But the training didn't pay off. She didn't find full-time employment until 2006, when she was hired as a retail clerk at Goodwill, which paid enough to cover her $600 rent but not much else. The job lasted only until last November and she has been looking for another since.

Over the years, Craig has made ends meet with the help of Wisconsin Works, or W2, the state's overhauled welfare system. But she is "disenchanted" with the program because it has not lived up to its promise of helping her obtain long-term employment. "They need to come up with something else," she said in an interview.

Truthout

DA's and Defenders Try To Lock In Evidence Rules

Prosecutors, lawmakers, law enforcement officers and the state public defender haggled Wednesday over how to implement a sweeping new law that requires DNA evidence be preserved to guard against wrongful convictions.

The law requires evidence in serious cases, such as murder or a sex crime carrying a life sentence, to be preserved for the life of the defendant, but it also casts a broad net over "any evidence that may contain DNA" in all other cases. Cops and prosecutors say they are unclear on the rules for identifying and eventually disposing of that evidence, leaving them fearing evidence overflow.

"Everyone is having a challenging time implementing this statute," Adams County District Attorney Don Quick said Wednesday at a meeting of several state officials trying to come to an agreement on how to implement the law.

Tensions over its implementation came to a boil this week. State public defender Doug Wilson said prosecutors in many jurisdictions have been including evidence-preservation waivers in their plea agreements, meaning defendants looking to plead guilty to a lesser charge must also consent to having evidence that might later prove their innocence destroyed.

The vast majority of criminal cases are settled by plea deal.

"My catch," Wilson said at Wednesday's meeting, where he was the only defense attorney, "is you guys conditioning pleas on us signing the waiver."

Scott Storey, the Jefferson County district attorney, said the plea deals were not meant to extort preservation waivers but to get ahead of a possible tide of evidence swamping storage rooms. Storey said Wednesday that his office will no longer include such waivers in its plea deals.

The Denver Post

Programs Ease Inmates Back Into Work Force

This is what I've been talking about. Giving people an opportunity to get some stability and a foundation under their feet is going to go a lot further than dumping them out on Smith Road. If re-entry starts the day you go to prison, then this is how it should end. This also gives the Department of Corrections a chance to get involved with re-entry. You can reduce expensive prison bed space by providing a place where people can help to pay for their incarceration and put real money into a bank account so that when they get released they have a foundation to start from.

Well-groomed and wearing shorts and a T-shirt, Alan Hammett doesn't fit the cinematic description of a jail inmate as he pushes a paintbrush.

But at the Bossier Parish prison facility, he is one of 113 "clients" working off the last years or months of their sentences.

Clients are how inmates who are employed as part of the jail's work release program are described. The center, just north of Bossier Maximum Security Facility, opened in 2006, and the first inmate began working outside the facility at an independent employer almost immediately.

Hammett was convicted of possession of methamphetamine Sept. 7, and a Bossier judge sentenced him to five years in prison at hard labor, with special conditions.

"Assuming he does everything he is supposed to do and doesn't violate any rules or regulations, his projected release date is Sept. 22, 2009," said Ed Baswell, spokesman for Bossier sheriff's office.

So Hammett will work off the rest of his suspended sentence doing maintenance work for Landmark Realty, living a mostly normal life with the exception of spending the night in a bunk with more than dozens others behind concrete walls.

"This beats sitting around a table at the main jail," Hammett, 45, said. "This gives me something to look forward to when I'm released. I'll have money and hope."

The work-release program is offered to nonviolent offenders completing the last three years of their sentence or, in some cases, serving sentences for offenses with shorter jail terms.

Participants' charges range from failure to pay child support to repeat driving while intoxicated arrests, drug possession and issuing worthless checks. Most inmates in the program come from Bossier Parish.

The work-release center also houses state inmates, as Hammett is a Louisiana Department of Corrections inmate. "We have more people applying for it than we can accommodate," Baswell said. "It has become a popular thing and word has spread."

An alternative to a traditional jail sentence, work-release programs allow inmates a much greater measure of freedom than they would have in the typical jail cell. They are taken to and from work by jail transportation, and they are monitored by the employer but not like the tight security in the prison facility. There are no handcuffs, shackles or surveillance cameras.

"This man (Alan), knows exactly what he is supposed to do and he wants to do it," said T.W. Alley Jr., owner of Landmark Realty. "Alan is a good guy, and he has made a mistake, but who hasn't? I trust him, and I trust him to go into my house by himself."

Alley applauds the program for providing good, dependable workers. He has hired at least six inmates.

"It's just a good source of finding people and everyone, no matter what mistakes they've made, are due an opportunity," he said.

Caddo Parish sheriff's office also has a work-release program. Sheriff Steve Prator initiated the program about two years ago for inmates at Caddo Correctional Center that are assigned to the Lousisiana Department of Corrections.

The program is of no cost to the parish. Inmates pay for their own upkeep, room and board and transportation, Prator said.

"It's really good for employers because they get dependable, drug- and alcohol-free workers," Prator said. "These are people who are going to be in our community very soon and this allows them to prepare for the transition."

The inmates in Caddo's program keep half of their money, and out of that the parish assures they take care of any child support and restitution obligations.

"We've had people get out of the facility who literally had thousands of dollars saved up," Prator said. "The inmates save money, and then the employers get tax breaks. It's just wonderful."

The program allows a way to slowly and cautiously place prisoners back into society, giving them an opportunity to re-enter the work force under supervision before reaching the point of full freedom of release.

"It allows you to ease in, instead of getting out of a cell and being thrown back into it," Hammett said. "I will have money and a job when I'm released."

Alley promised Hammett a job after his release. With jobs secured before their release, prisoners like Hammett have a more steady footing in adapting back into everyday life.

Hammett makes more than minimum wage, Alley said. But the pay scale is adjusted depending on the individual employer. Work-release inmates work, on average, 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday, Baswell said.

However the hours vary, according to the type of work they do.

Construction is under way for a new work-release facility at Caddo Correctional Center that will hold 240 inmates. It's set to open in nine months.

Bossier has plans under way to expand it's facility to provide space for an additional 100 inmates.

Shreveport Times

US Has Highest Drug Use

A survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies the United States has the highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis use. The study, by Louisa Degenhardt (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) and colleagues, is based on the World Health Organization's Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).

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The authors found that 16.2% of people in the United States had used cocaine in their lifetime, a level much higher than any other country surveyed (the second highest level of cocaine use was in New Zealand, where 4.3% of people reported having used cocaine). Cannabis use was highest in the US (42.4%), followed by New Zealand (41.9%).

In the Americas, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand, alcohol had been used by the vast majority of survey participants, compared to smaller proportions in the Middle East, Africa, and China.

The survey found differences in both legal and illegal drug use among different socioeconomic groups. For example, males were more likely than females to have used all drug types; younger adults were more likely than older adults to have used all drugs examined; and higher income was related to drug use of all kinds. Marital status was found to be related to tobacco, cannabis, and cocaine use, but not alcohol use (the never married and previously married having higher odds of lifetime cocaine and cannabis use than the currently married; tobacco use is more likely in people who have been previously married while less likely among the never married).

Drug use "does not appear to be simply related to drug policy," say the authors, "since countries with more stringent policies towards illegal drug use did not have lower levels of such drug use than countries with more liberal policies." In the Netherlands, for example, which has more liberal policies than the US, 1.9% of people reported cocaine use and 19.8% reported cannabis use.

Science Daily

Power To The Street People During DNC

It would have been interesting to see how they were going to bus hundreds of homeless people on parole to another jurisdiction.

Denver police Cmdr. Deborah Dilley has a message to the 3,900 homeless people who live in the city: You can stay where you are between Aug. 25 and 28.

Responding to rumors that Denver's homeless would be bused to Pueblo or hauled out of the hip Lower Downtown area during the Democratic National Convention, city officials say they'll bend over backward to treat them, well, democratically.

One man has loaned five flat-screen televisions for shelters so the homeless can watch the action live on cable television. An advocate is pushing for vouchers to movies, museums and the Denver Zoo so the population can enjoy the city's cultural scene for free. There are plans for a voter-registration drive. One of the city's ministries will run bingo games at night.

"I think the city is saying the right things," said John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition of the Homeless. "The wild card is when the rubber meets the road — when the Secret Service, the FBI and other federal agencies are putting pressure on the local police. I think there is some queasiness of people on the street."

The work on this front began in April, when Jamie Van Leeuwen started hearing concerns from homeless people about the projected hordes of expected visitors downtown during convention week.

The director for Denver's Road Home — the city's homeless initiative — convened a committee to find ways to assuage worries.

The Denver Post

States Act To Reduce Disparity

Colorado passed HB 1119 Reducing racial disparity in criminal justice system (CCJRC priority/support): Requires the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to study and make recommendations for the reduction of racial and ethnic disparity in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.
Governor M. Jodi Rell (R-CT) signed legislation which will require examination of the racial and ethnic impact of new sentencing laws prior to passage. It provides a means for legislators to anticipate any unwarranted disparities and enables them to consider alternative policies to accomplish the goals of legislation without causing undue negative effects on public safety.

"Just as fiscal impact statements help policymakers assess the effects of proposed policies, so will racial impact statements allow us to anticipate any unintended consequences of criminal justice policy,” said Representative Michael Lawlor, chair of the House Judiciary Committee in Connecticut. “By doing so, we will enhance the fairness and credibility of the criminal justice system."

Connecticut has one of the nation's highest rates of racial disparity among its incarcerated population; blacks are confined at 12 times the rate of their white counterparts. The differences in incarceration may signal a failure to address social and economic problems within some communities and can indicate bias within the justice system. The consequences for affected communities are disproportionate rates of voter disenfranchisement, unemployment, and disassociation among its citizens.

The Sentencing Project

Prison Reforming Dogs Too

STERLING — Among the 2,550 inmates housed in the multi-security level Sterling Correctional Facility are 21 rather furry, four-legged residents, who, like their taller two-legged companions, are getting a second chance at life through an unlikely partnership.

It’s a sunny Friday morning in the prison yard. Inmate Julian Whalen beams with pride as his training dog, Duchess Lady, shakes his hand, sits, lays down, stays and rolls over on command. Whalen’s gentle demeanor with the dog disguises the fact that he’s serving time in the Sterling Correctional Facility for aggravated robbery.

“She calms me, keeps me out of trouble,” Whalen said.

It was that line of thinking — giving inmates an outlet, a chance to turn their lives around when they’re released — that started the Prison Trained K-9 Companion Program back in 2002.

Debi Stevens, now supervisor of the program, remembers being approached by a major working in the Cañon City prison after one of her dog training classes.

“He asked if I would be interested in starting a dog program at the prison, and I said, ‘You bet I would,’” Stevens said with a laugh.

The program, started with five dogs in 2002, is now in nine correctional facilities in the state with 138 inmate handlers and 150 dogs.

Inmates from PTKCP have tended to stay out of trouble upon release. Recidivism rate is between 10 to 15 percent, according to Stevens, which is far less than 50 percent rate for inmates who leave prison without vocational training and 25 percent of inmates who leave the prison with training through the Colorado Correctional Industries.

Journal Advocate

Felon Voting Rights

Many people with a criminal conviction aren't sure about their voting rights. It's a confusing topic, mainly because the laws to disenfranchise voters vary from state to state. Even the people who should know sometimes get confused.

If you're not sure about your eligibility to vote in Colorado due to a criminal conviction, read on. We want you to know your voting rights.

First things first. In order to be eligible to vote, you must be 18 years of age on or before the date of the election in which you want to vote, be a citizen of the United States, and live in Colorado at your present address at least 30 days prior to the election.

Next, the key to knowing who is eligible to vote in Colorado is to understand who is not eligible. Here's what the statute says: No person while serving a sentence of detention or confinement in a correctional facility, jail, or other location for a felony conviction or while serving a sentence of parole shall be eligible to register to vote or to vote in any election; however, a confined prisoner who is awaiting trial but has not been tried shall be certified by the institutional administrator and shall be permitted to register to vote by mail registration pursuant to part 5 of this article. Colorado Revised Statutes §1-2-103(4). This means the people who are not eligible to vote in Colorado are those who have been convicted of a felony and have not yet completed the sentence for that felony, including parole.
This also means the following people are eligible to vote in Colorado.
1. People with a criminal conviction who have served their sentence, including parole if required
2. People who are in jail as a pretrial detainee who have not yet been convicted
3. People currently on probation for either a misdemeanor or felony
4. People currently in jail serving a sentence for a misdemeanor sentence only

If you're eligible to vote in Colorado, we hope you will register to vote and vote. Your vote is your voice on the issues you care about, and it's how you get heard by politicians.

If you're not eligible to vote, we hope you will encourage your family and friends to vote.

Identification Documents

When you register to vote, you probably will have to provide identification documents. If you are registering to vote in person, you must provide your Colorado driver's license or Department of Revenue number (state ID). It is not necessary to present the ID; it is sufficient to provide the number.

If you do not have either a valid driver's license number or Dept. of Revenue number, you must provide at least the last four digits of your Social Security number.

If your identification can not be established, you may also be required to provide a copy of an acceptable form of identification.

For more information about identification documents, call your county’s office of the Clerk and Recorder or the Secretary of State’s office at (303) 894-2200. If you have access to a computer, you can also check online at www.sos.state.co.us. Click on Election Center and then click on Election FAQs.


Where to Get Help
If you think you are eligible to vote and are told you may not by an election clerk, please contact the Secretary of State's office for help. Their telephone number is (303) 894-2200. You may also contact CCJRC at (303) 825-0122 for assistance

CCJRC has written and distributed a voter education brochure titled CAN I VOTE? The following questions and answers from the brochure are to help people understand how a criminal conviction may or may not affect their current right to vote.

I have a criminal conviction in my past. Can I vote?
In Colorado, you have the right to vote after you have served your sentence. Remember, if you were incarcerated for a felony, any period of parole is considered to be part of your sentence. The day you complete your sentence is the day you become eligible to register and vote.

Will I be notified when I'm eligible to vote?
No. The right to vote is automatically restored, but you will not be notified.

Do I have to prove I have completed my sentence (including parole) in order to register to vote or to vote?
If your name still appears on the database as an incarcerated person, the voting official may ask you for proof that you have completed your sentence, including any parole. It's a good idea to bring your sentence or parole discharge document with you when you register to vote.

What if I was convicted of a crime in another state?
Election law varies from state to state, and your right to vote is determined by the state in which you live. If you are a resident of Colorado and you have completed your sentence, including parole, you can vote.

If I was convicted of a federal crime, do I have the right to vote in a federal election?
It does not matter if you were convicted in a state or federal court. Once you are eligible to vote in Colorado, you are eligible to vote in both state and federal elections.

Do I have to pay off all of my restitution before I can vote?
No. Payment of restitution is not a condition of voting eligibility.

Do I have the right to vote if I am currently on probation?
Yes. If you are on probation for either a misdemeanor or felony you may register to vote and cast your vote in any election.

Do I have the right to vote if I am on bond and the criminal case is pending?
Yes. You are eligible to vote if you are on bond as long as you are not convicted and serving a sentence in jail or prison for a felony at the time of the election.

Do I have the right to vote if I am in jail?
If you are serving a misdemeanor sentence in jail, you have the right to register to vote and vote in any election. This is true if on the date of the election you are in jail as a pretrial detainee and have not yet been convicted.

In order to vote, you will need to contact the clerk and recorder in the county of your legal residence and ask for a Colorado--Combination Voter Registration and Mail-in Ballot Application. (You can do this on your own or you may be able to get the form through jail personnel. If you are a pretrial detainee, an administrator in the jail where you are detained will also have to certify your eligibility.)

If you are not registered to vote, you will need to register before July 14, 2008, to vote in the primary election and October 6, 2008, to vote in the general election.

CCJRC has also been working on an educational campaign titled CAN I VOTE FROM JAIL? to help people incarcerated in jail, jail personnel, and election personnel understand who is eligible to vote while incarcerated in jail.

First, it is important to understand who is eligible to vote from jail in Colorado. This group includes people who are currently being held as pretrial detainees and people who are currently serving a sentence for a misdemeanor sentence only.

Second, people who believe they are eligible to vote from jail must meet the voting eligibility criteria for anyone who registers to vote. They must be 18 years of age or older at the time of the election in which they wish to vote, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Colorado for at least 30 days prior to the date of incarceration.

People who believe they are eligible to vote will need to register to vote, or re-register to vote, and request a mail-in (absentee) ballot through the Office of the Clerk and Recorder in the county of their legal residence.

It is important to remember that people who have already been convicted of a felony and have not yet completed the sentence for that felony, including parole, are NOT eligible to vote.

Contact CCJRC for more information about jail-based voting. A free brochure that explains the process in detail is available upon request.

Colorado Commission Creates Task Forces

Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice Creates Task Forces

The Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) was created by HB 1358 during the 2007 legislative session. The first meeting with all 26 members was held in January 2008, at which the commission presented its stated mission: to enhance public safety, to ensure justice, and to ensure protection of the rights of victims through the cost-effective use of public resources. The work of the commission will focus on evidence-based recidivism reduction initiatives and cost-effective spending necessary to bring those ideas to fruition.

After that January meeting, Executive Director Peter Weir determined that the first order of business was to educate the members of the commission about the realities of the criminal justice system in Colorado. He understood that most people who don’t work in the system don’t necessarily understand the intricacies of such topics as bonding, sentencing, parole, and incarceration practices. Thus, experts from across the nation and from within Colorado provided evidence-based research materials about the criminal justice arena in Colorado and other states, as well.

After several months of meetings, the commission formed the Re-Entry Oversight Committee. Under that umbrella, four separate task forces were put together to look at different aspects of the system and to consider how the systems may be strengthened through legislative or policy reform. Each task force has incorporated voices from the community in leadership roles and as task force members. CCJRC is represented on the Re- Entry Oversight Committee as well as on three of the four task forces.

The task force recommendations will focus on statutes, policies, regulations, and practices that to reduce barriers to successful reintegration into society so that the recidivism rates are significantly reduces. The Commission is also required to report on recommendations to reduce racial disparity in the criminal justice system. CCJRC would like to invite comments from our members in regards to any recommendations that you might wish to suggest to any committee.

Probation Task Force: will work to develop policy recommendations that will reduce the barriers for people on probation and increase the success rate on probation.

Transition Task Force: will look at the systemic and personal challenges that people face six months prior to and six months following release from jail or prison and the changes that could be implemented in order to reduce recidivism.

Incarceration Task Force: charged with making specific recommendations related to the governance of jails, prisons, and community corrections facilities in order to reduce recidivism.

Post-Supervision Task Force: will examine changes that could be made to current parole laws, the parole board, and the parole system in order to reduce recidivism.

The work of the Oversight Committee on Re-Entry will be conducted in three phases. In each phase, barriers to implementing evidence-based correctional practice will be identified along with strategies to remove the barriers. The Oversight Committee on Re-Entry will propose Phase 1 recommendations to the Colorado CCJJ by October 2008, in time for the commission’s November 2008 report to the General Assembly.

Additional information about the Colorado CCJJ may be found at http://cdpsweb.state.co.us/cccjj/

Oversight Committee on Re-Entry
Regina Huerter, Chair
Jeaneene Miller	David Kaplan	Mike Riede	Regis Groff
Tom Quinn	Jeanne Smith	Grayson Robinson	Louise Boris
Peter Weir	Gil Martinez	Michelle Sykes	Christie Donner
Staff: Kim English

It's A Wrap! 2008 Legislative Session

It’s a Wrap Under the Gold Dome: 2008 Legislative Session

This legislative session was surprisingly active around criminal justice issues. The two biggest victories for CCJRC was the passage of HB 1082, the record sealing bill that Governor Ritter vetoed in 2007. The second was the passage of HB 1382, which will restore the possibility for all people paroled on or after 1/1/09 to be awarded earned time. Both bills are further described below.

The biggest disappointment was the veto by Governor Ritter of HB 1208, which would have made important changes to the process by which juveniles can be charged as adults. Under current Colorado law, a district attorney has the power to charge a juvenile as young as 14 years old as an adult for certain crimes. This is known as “direct file.” HB 1208 would have raised the minimum age to 16 and would have permitted a “reverse transfer hearing” to allow the adult criminal court to consider whether the case should be transferred back to juvenile court. In his veto, Governor Ritter said he did not think the current process was being abused by district attorneys.

The Department of Corrections received a $759.5 million budget, an increase of $55.5 million (8%) over last year’s budget of $704 million. There was also significant discussion about Director Zavaras’ projections that the state will need to invest over $800 million over the next five years to build more prisons.

The pressure is on the legislature, the governor, and the Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice to enact reforms that will eliminate or greatly reduce the need for prison construction. CCJRC believes that reducing the need for more prisons does not always call for dramatic reform. For example, the restoration of earned time in HB 1382 is estimated to reduce the need for 1700 prison beds and could save over $26 million in the next 5 years.

The Senate confirmed David Michaud as the new chairman of the parole board and two new parole board members, Celeste C de Baca and Rebecca Oakes. In mid-June 2008, the Legislative Audit Committee requested the State Auditor to conduct a limited audit of release decisions by the parole board. According to the State Auditor’s office, the audit will be limited in scope and the specifics will not be released to the public. The audit won’t likely be completed until the end of the year.

Bills Passed and Signed into Law

HB 1082 Record sealing (CCJRC priority/support): Allows people convicted of certain drug crimes to petition the court to seal the criminal record after 10 years from successfully completing any sentence, including any term of parole. (See article in this issue for more detail)

HB 1382 Criminal procedure omnibus (CCJRC priority/support): Restores earned time to everyone paroled or re-paroled on or after January 1, 2009. Right now, for people convicted after 1993, only people convicted of a nonviolent offense are eligible for earned time on parole. With the passage of HB 1382, people paroled after 1/1/09 who were convicted of a violent offense and people re-paroled following a parole revocation will also be eligible for earned time. Unfortunately, this change will not apply to people currently on parole or people who will be paroled between now and 1/1/09.

HB 1382 also made some important procedural changes to better provide due process when the DOC wants to classify someone as a sex offender if the court makes a specific finding that there is no factual basis of a sex offense in the case. In the past, DOC overrode these findings by the court. HB 1382 allows the DOC to classify someone as a sex offender if there is concern about sexual misconduct (either historically or while incarcerated), but if there is no criminal conviction or if the court has not made a specific finding of a sex offense, this designation can only happen following an administrative hearing where the person is given notice and the hearing is conducted by a licensed attorney.

HB 1119 Reducing racial disparity in criminal justice system (CCJRC priority/support): Requires the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to study and make recommendations for the reduction of racial and ethnic disparity in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.

HB 1046 Applying for benefits while in Division of Youth Corrections (CCJRC support): Would require the Division of Youth Corrections to submit applications for public benefits for eligible juveniles at least 120 days prior to release from custody.

SB 07 Applying for benefits while in jail (CCJRC support): Requires county jails to submit applications for public benefits for those eligible at least 120 days prior to release from custody.

SB 06 Allows Medicaid benefits to be suspended, rather than terminated, if someone is incarcerated (CCJRC support): Allows for Medicaid benefits to be suspended while someone is incarcerated, rather than terminated.

HB 1363 Cap on private prison provider rate (CCJRC support): Allows the DOC to negotiate a contract rate for private prisons but prohibits a contract rate from exceeding the maximum rate provided in the annual general appropriations bill.

Bills passed but vetoed by Governor Ritter

HB 1208 Changes to juvenile criminal law regarding direct file (CCJRC support): Would have raised the minimum age from 14 to 16 for direct filing on a juvenile in adult court. It would allow the adult court to conduct a “reverse transfer hearing” to determine whether the case should be transferred back to juvenile court.

Bills that did not pass either the House or Senate

HB 1004 Truancy (CCJRC priority/oppose): Would have allowed police to take kids into “temporary custody” if they think they are truant. HB 1004 died in the House Judiciary Committee in February. Many thanks to Padres Unidos, Colorado Progressive Coalition, the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, and La Academia/Denver Inner City Parish for working with CCJRC to defeat this bill.

HB 1022 Change to the escape law (CCJRC priority/support): Would have repealed the mandatory consecutive sentence for escape convictions unless the escape is from a level III, IV or V security prison.

Representative Terrance Carroll, the bill’s sponsor, pulled this bill before it went to committee so it did not proceed. It is our understanding that he wanted to give the Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice the opportunity to weigh in on changes to the escape bill but that he is interested in running similar legislation in 2009.

Other bills of interest signed into law

SB 171 Parolees - biological substance testing: Expands the kind of biological substance tests that can be required of people on parole. DOC would not be limited to just urine tests. For example, there is new technology that can drug-test using perspiration.

HB 1067 Parole hearing officers – immunity: Grants a parole administrative hearing officer protection by governmental immunity so long as he/she is acting within the scope of his or her duties as a public employee.

HB 1192 Inmate co-pay: Requires the DOC to establish written procedures outlining when inmates are required to pay a co-payment, not to exceed five dollars, for inmate-initiated medical, mental health, dental and optometric visits. Allows the DOC to specify services for which a co-payment will not be assessed and when a co-payment may be reduced or waived including, but not limited to, the inmate's ability to pay, the health needs of the inmate, and the public health and safety needs of the institution.

HB 1352 Parole revocation placement - return to custody facility - technical parole revocation: Makes a parolee with an active felony warrant, felony detainer, or new felony charges ineligible for placement in a community return-to-custody facility after revocation based on a technical violation.

Beaten Teen Suing For $3 Million

The lawyers for a teenager who claims he was severely beaten by Denver police officers after a foot chase are asking for damages of at least $3 million.

Attorneys for Juan G. Vasquez initially made a settlement offer of $1.3 million to the city. However, the lawyers filed an amendment to their complaint on Friday in U.S. District Court demanding at least $3 million.

Andrew J. O'Conner, a law clerk for the Colorado Christian Defense Counsel firm representing Vasquez, said the amended amount is to cover treatment for their client's kidneys that they claim were injured by the officers.

"Juan Vasquez may have to be on dialysis," O'Conner said Friday referring to a treatment for patients who lose the function of their kidneys. "It looks like he may lose his kidney."

The amended lawsuit also lists Veronica Gonzalez as a plaintiff and the guardian for Vasquez, who is a minor. Gonzalez is the teen's cousin.

Thomas G. Bigler, an assistant city attorney, said he was served with the amended version Friday and had not had an opportunity to review the document.

In addition to his kidney injuries Vasquez suffered suffered a lacerated liver and fractured ribs, according to the attorneys.

The suit alleges that Officer Charles Porter held the top of a fence with both hands and then jumped up and down on the teen's back when other officers had Vasquez on the ground and were trying to arrest him. Also listed as defendants are four "unnamed Denver police officers," the police department, and the city.

The city's initial answer to the suit said Porter acted in self-defense and used reasonable force to subdue Vasquez.

Rocky Mountain News

Sen. Jim Webb Tackles Drug Policy

The Nation -- Yesterday Senator Jim Webb--who seems to be on many people's shortlist as a possible running mate for Senator Barack Obama--chaired the Joint Economic Committee's hearing on "Illegal Drugs: Economic Impact, Societal Costs, Policy Reponses". It was the second hearing on drug policy that Senator Webb has convened, the first focused on the steep increase in the US prison population.

In his two years in Congress, Senator Webb has established himself as a leader in fighting for economic populism, an end to the War in Iraq and a new GI Bill. Yesterday we saw that his interest in revamping our approach to drug policy is strong as well.

In his opening statement Senator Webb noted that we have 5 percent of the world's population and 20 percent of the world's prison population--"either we have the most evil people in the world or we are doing something wrong with the way we handle our criminal justice system, and I choose the latter. The central role of drug policy in filling our nation's prisons makes clear that our approach to curbing illegal drug use is broken."

The Nation