The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Colorado is trying to buy more cell space to house 1,000 more prisoners each year.

Tough sentencing laws are sending more people to prison for longer periods. During the recession, the state fell behind on construction and it now expects to run out of cell space by this fall.

In the short term, the Department of Corrections will resort to double-bunking prisoners, crowding them in a way that raises the risk of rioting.

The longer-term solution is to contract with private companies to build and operate lockups.

Earlier this year, the state sought bids from private prison companies to house 2,250 additional male inmates and 750 more women.

There has been no decision on the women's prison, which is likely to end up near an existing one in Brush.

For the more urgently needed men's prison, Colorado is on a tear. It wants the first 750 beds open by February 2008, just 21 months from now. The next 750 must be ready six months later and the final group a year after that.

The contract should have been awarded in April. Now, the state has asked CCA and Geo, two of the five bidders, to provide more details by June, squeezing the time frame further.

The rush gives an edge to CCA, which already owns four private prisons in Colorado, because it already has the land and zoning to expand its facilities in Burlington and Las Animas.

The company's private prison in Crowley County was the scene of a riot in 2004. An inquiry found CCA's staff-to-inmate ratio was one-seventh of a state prison's at the time. The state now levies heavy fines on private prisons for short-staffing.

Geo, also one of the nation's largest private prison companies, has been struggling to build a pre-release prison in Pueblo for three years, but has yet to start construction due to recurring zoning issues.

Dave Schouweiler, of the Department of Corrections, said there is no guarantee that either Geo or CCA will win the bid. In the end, the department can reject their proposals and negotiate a contract for a private prison without bidding, as it has done previously, he said.

CCA has told local officials it has submitted a package deal, said Bent County Commissioner Bill Long. It includes expansion of its existing facilities in Las Animas in Bent County, and in Burlington in Kit Carson County, according to officials in those communities.

But the bid apparently does not call for expansion of CCA's other Colorado facilities in Olney Springs in Crowley County, and in Walsenburg in Huerfano County.

CCA's package might also include a new prison elsewhere in the state, Long said. He did not know where.

Long said that CCA left open the size of its proposed expansion in Las Animas, which now has 703 beds.

CCA has told Burlington that it would like to double its 758-bed prison there, said city clerk Margo Wilkinson.

Burlington is very happy with its existing CCA prison and favors expansion, especially as the drought damages the town's agricultural economy, said town prison monitor Norma Pankratz.

"We're sure hoping we get the bid," she said.

Geo representatives have spoken with officials in three towns in eastern Colorado. It is not clear if the company submitted more than one possible location.

Geo has held talks with city and county officials about building a prison just outside Florence that would gradually grow to 3,000 beds. But approval will depend on the outcome of yet-to-be-held public meetings, likely to focus on water supplies and the effect of another prison in Fremont County, which already has 12 prisons.

A state-run penitentiary is due to be built soon, so a new private prison would make 14.

The small town of Florence, population 3,600, could end up with nearly twice as many prisoners as residents.

Geo also won a letter of support for a new prison from city and county officials in Sterling, said Brett Challenger of the local economic development group.

A Geo consultant also spoke to Police Chief Tracey McCoy in Ault, a small town north of Greeley. But it did not go so far as requesting official support for its bid.

Colorado inmate population

• 1990 7,398

• 1995 10,564

• 2000 15,441

• 2005 21,336Source: Department Of Corrections

Copyright 2006, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.

URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4707991,00.html