Pubdate: Mon, 03 Mar 2008
Source: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2008 Denver Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author: Bill Scanlon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

NUMBER OF PRISONERS TRIPLES OVER 15 YEARS

Colorado Spent $599 Million On Corrections In '07

The number of Coloradans in prison has nearly tripled  in 15 years, 
costing the state hundreds of millions of  dollars.

The prison population stands at 22,424. That number,  plus 9,567 
parolees and 13,200 people in county jails,  represents more than 1 
percent of the state's adult  population, according to statistics 
kept by the  Colorado Department of Corrections and County 
Sheriffs  of Colorado.

The Pew Center on the States last week reported that  2,319,258 
Americans were in jail or prison at the start  of 2008 - one out of 
every 99.1 adults. Whether per  capita or in raw numbers, it's more 
than any other  nation.

The study found that 8.8 percent of Colorado's general  fund - $599 
million - was spent on corrections in 2007,  compared with the 
national average of 6.8 percent. Only  Oregon, Florida and Vermont 
had higher percentages.

Like the nation at large, Colorado has seen an  explosion in the 
prison population the past 15 years,  as law officers have pushed for 
longer sentences.

"We're averaging 98 new inmates a month," said Colorado  Department 
of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine  Sanguinetti.

DOC needs to add the equivalent of one prison a year to  the system, 
meaning that essentially "we're asking for  more money all the time," she said.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers says the drop in  the crime 
rate over the past 15 years proves that  longer sentences are 
working, and so the cost of  imprisoning more people for longer 
periods is money  well spent.

"I don't think there's a lot of people in prison who  don't belong 
there," said Suthers, who formerly headed  Colorado's Department of 
Corrections.

Three quarters of prison inmates are behind bars for  violent crimes 
or had a violent crime in their past, he  said.

The drug dealers and drug users who make up most of the  rest of the 
inmate population generally had three or  four chances before a judge 
finally gave up and  sentenced them to prison, Suthers said.

Critics point to the disparate number of minorities and  poor people 
in prison, said Suthers.

"But the single most identifying characteristic is that  seven out of 
10 of these inmates never at any point in  their lives lived with 
their natural father," he said.  "We're paying a high price for the 
level of  dysfunctional families we've had for decades."

Suthers said the other big factor in the burgeoning  prison 
population is the deinstitutionalization of the  mentally ill, 
starting 40 years ago.

The goal of treating them locally and making sure they  stayed on 
their medications has failed, he said.

Differing sharply with Suthers is Christie Donner,  executive 
director of the Colorado Criminal Justice  Reform Coalition, a 
nonprofit group dedicated to  lowering the prison population.

She notes that Colorado ranks 49th in the nation in  spending on 
substance-abuse treatment and is way down  the list on mental health 
treatment as well.

The revolving door to prison won't slow until people  who are 
incarcerated or at risk of being so are treated  for their drug 
addiction and mental health problems,  she said.

"There is a huge gaping hole" in Colorado's treatment  programs, Donner said.

She said she's never talked to a politician or county  sheriff who 
didn't agree with her that more money is  needed for treatment.

"People say they agree but that still they have to  spend more and 
more money on prisons because more and  more people are being sent there.

"It's a Catch-22. We spend money on prisons instead of  on higher 
education or mental health. How do you turn  around the Titanic?"

Donner says the 50 percent recidivism rate - higher for  those on 
mandatory parole and those with  substance-abuse problems - proves 
the system is broken.

As an example, Donner related a recent experience at a  halfway house 
as a young man was being released from  the corrections system.

"He was supposed to have 30 days of medications as he  was released," 
she said. "He is schizophrenic, had been  off his medications for 
five days and was starting to  hallucinate."

But he would have to wait at least a week to get into a  mental 
health center, she said. "His case manager told  him to 'man up.' "
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom