News today that the Department of Justice plans to phase out its use of private prisons, calling them less safe and less effective than ones run by the government, won’t impact Colorado.
Colorado currently has three private prisons around the state, but none of them contract with the federal government.
The feds made their groundbreaking decision after studying the efficacy of private prisons in America, and issuing a critical report of how those prisons function. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the news in a memo.
“They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security,” she wrote in the memo.
Only 13 prisons across the country will be shut down as a result of the decision. In all, the phase-out will reduce the population of inmates in private prisons in America by May 2017 to about 14,000, or nearly half. Privately run detention facilities, of which Colorado has three, will not be affected.
“It’s a good day,” says Christie Donner, director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, a group that opposed private prisons since its founding in the 1990s.
“There’s just no appropriate way to inject a for-profit motive into corrections,” Donner says. “It’s just completely inappropriate.”
In Colorado, private prisons are on the wane.
Last month, the private Kit Carson Correctional Center, which is run by Corrections Corporation of America, became the fourth private prison to shut down in Colorado since 2009.
Lawmakers in Colorado had given millions in bailout money to the prison to try and keep it afloat. During last year’s legislative session, Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper rankled some lawmakers when he quietly requested $3 million from state budget writers to try and save the prison, which housed 580 inmates and employed 142 workers.
Some workers still remain at the prison and are readying it for closure. A worker who answered the phone there on Aug. 18 said the crew should be done by Sept. 3.
The three private prisons currently operating in Colorado are the Bent County Correctional Facility in Las Animas, the Cheyenne Mountain Re-entry Center in Colorado Springs, and the Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs.
Photo credit: DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons in Flickr.
There are very few, if any, clearer signs of the fall of our society than for profit prisons. These should NEVER have been allowed in this state or any other. They are a travesty and an immoral stain on us as a nation and especially as a state. They have been nothing but a drain on our budget, costing us FAR more than they promised to save with their “efficiencies”.
Sorry folks, but the math cannot add up. You cannot take something that the state ran on a no profit basis, tack on 30% for the big boys who don’t do ANY of the work, and expect anything but shoddy, less than standard services for your inflated costs. This is the problem with ALL privatization schemes, or as I call them PIRATIZATION. These are doomed to failure, just like pretty much ALL right wing schemes, largely because the intent of them is NOT to provide good services, but to MAKE PROFIT. The services actually mean NOTHING, it’s all cost cutting so the big boys can give themselves bonuses.
It’s wonderful that the Feds are stopping this. It’s time to bring this type of thinking to this state. Time to lose the last 3. They are a stain, and it’s time to clean them up.
Colorado needs to close all of it’s private prisons. They are not safe!
Bent county corrections facility needs to be looked into not a safe place. staff don’t care about inmates health. Very rude staff. Won’t do nothing about inmates health issues also pushing them aside. That place should have been shut down.. the staff don’t run that place the inmates do. That is not good.. also having staff show up to work drunk or hungover not good.. this place sucks…
My husband is in Bent county. He is suppose to be out by Sept. They never gave him his time served or his awarded time. That or ran his sentences current like they where suppose to. The parole board is trying to give him a deferred for a year. And his has done everything he supper to has not got any write ups. They’re not doing anything to get these guys home so that they can become conducive members of society again.
My husband is at this facility, and I go and visit here every week. I have no idea if anyone will even see this, but this facility, the bent county one, is just SO aweful – first, ALL of the officers weigh over 250 lbs…come on, that’s just unhealthy, it’s like give a crap about yourselves…and, how are you supposed to help anyone else when you can’t even help yourself?…Secondly, ALL the staff are SUPER rude and unkind and they act like they’re all being nice to you and you just wanna tell them to F*** off because they’re all complete losers who don’t have an ounce of love in their entire bodies because they all hate themselves. Yep, I said it. All the officers are not only severely, SEVERLY overweight, but they also hate themselves…I’ve seen the way they treat people here and it’s terrible. They make you pay SUPER HIGH PRICES for vending machine food. Now, I’m a vegan, so that’s a HUGE stomp on my rights. If they don’t want to serve me some decent F****** food, then I’m not buying it. So, what do I do? I starve for the freaking day. How rude of them. And, not to mention, ALL of that plastic goes into the environment. There is a microwave…People are microwaving plastic and nasty food that isn’t even food making it even worse! Come on, how hard is it to have a soup and salad bar for FREE for everyone to say oh hey, THANK YOU for coming to visit your loved one and supporting us, you even have to pay for water. PAY FOR WATER?! omg…*deep sigh.* I don’t pay for their stupid vending machine food that just makes me sick. I am vegan and I do not want that s*** in my body, no way, no how! There should be other options for people.
Then, they think they have control over people’s bladders and bowel movements. Okay, what the F***?! This is completely laughable because it’s so inhumane and they just think it’s business as usual. They do not allow you to get up and use the bathroom if you need to and if you have to, then they end your f****** visit, no matter how far you drove that day. Like, I’m sorry, but what a bunch of tards. Are you kidding me?! Then, when there’s finally a bathroom break, which that’s how they justify their complete inhumane actions, you can’t have a bowel movement. This is a LEGIT rule. Um…what?…No…dumba****, you don’t have control over when people use the bathroom or how they choose to f****** use it…I should be able to use the bathroom WHENEVER I NEED TO. So should the “prisoners (light workers being stomped on by complete idoits).” This is a HUGE violation of people’s rights, and I really don’t understand how this place is operating.
The prisoners are super super nice. The staff are super super aweful, all of them….ALL of them. Yes, ALL OF THEM. I HATE THIS STUPID PLACE. AHHHH!!!
I think these walls of “Jericho” are about to come a tumblin’ down. That’s in no way a threat, it’s just that I think it’ll be shut down soon. Too many women’s husbands are locked up in there. See, women, well they care a HELL of a lot more than men do. So, good luck locking up our husbands, you stupid idoits…See how THAT turns out for you…omg…this just irritates me to no end. Oh, and no one will help you with anything. It’s always no, no, no, I don’t know anything about that, fill out this form…talk to this person…the lionness is upset. VERY, VERY upset. THIS IS NOT OKAY ON ANY LEVEL NO MATTER WHAT EXCUSE ANYONE HAS FOR IT. IT’S JUST NOT!!!!