Petition denied for $2.5 million to increase housing bunk availability

By Martin Keith DeWitt, Journalism Guild Writer

Colorado’s Department of Corrections faces an overcrowding dilemma due to manpower deficiencies and an accumulation of eligible parolees.

The Colorado State legislature’s Joint Budget Committee denied the Department of Corrections’ petition for nearly $2.5 million to fund more than 780 additional bunks due to an unanticipated surge in population, according to Capitol News Alliance. 

The department failed to address the ongoing causes of the overcrowding crisis and the retaining of people who qualify for parole, stated Capitol News Alliance. 

“Until there is a plan or plans to address why the releases are lagging the admissions and why that’s changed and what we can do about that, it’s very hard for me to support more beds,” said Senator Judy Amabile (Colorado).

The vote to deny the petition came down to a partisan split with Republicans in favor of the Bill and Democrats voting against it by a 4-2 margin.

Republican lawmakers Rep. Rick Taggart and Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer favored the bed expansion petition. They agreed with their liberal counterparts about the shortsightedness of the DOC and advised of the inevitability of having to fund the request, according to Capitol News Alliance.

Kirkmeyer acknowledged that the lack of foresight should be addressed even though it has no bearing on whether or not to spend the additional outlay. Delaying the decision could be viewed as a means to hold the department accountable.

The DOC’s procedures have created exasperation among lawmakers in regard to how the department is operated, said Kyle Giddings, deputy director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, 

“There’s…5,000 people inside of DOC past their parole eligibility dates,” said Giddings. “Why aren’t we working on getting those folks out and fixing technical parole violations?”

Giddings added that the source of the overcrowding is minor parole violations such as the skipped check-ins.

The DOC has had to use maintenance workers, case managers, and teachers to perform correctional officer duties as a result of manpower deficiencies within the department, said Hilary Glasgow, executive director of Colorado’s correctional union WINS, according to Capitol News Alliance.

The state implemented its Prison Population Management Plan in August because of the high occupancy percentage, as indicated in the department’s most recent report.

“When you put someone in prison, you have to have staff who are there to help run the systems of the prisons,” said Glasgow. “At its best, the prison can be a place for rehabilitation, and at its worst, it’s a warehouse. Right now we’re somewhere in between.”