|
|
| Colorado awards contracts for prison expansion |
| By Rocky Mountain News |
| Published: 06/28/2006 |
|
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - The CODOC awarded contracts for 2,220 additional prison beds to handle an explosion in the inmate population triggered by tougher sentencing laws and tighter parole rules. A 1,500-inmate private prison will be built in Ault, about 10 miles north of Greeley. The number of prisoners alone will double the population of the town. In addition, an existing private prison in Las Animas, in southeastern Colorado, will add 720 beds, doubling the size of that facility. Citing the rising number of prisoners, the state insists that both of the new lockups open just 20 months from now, said Alison Morgan, director of private prisons for the DOC. In addition to these two medium- security prisons for men, the CODOC awarded a third bid Monday to Cornell Cos. for a 750-bed women's medium-security prison in Hudson, 12 miles north of Denver International Airport. Colorado is sending 1,100 more people to prison every year and already has 500 backed up in county jails, awaiting openings in state prisons, Morgan said. The state has turned to private prisons to avoid the high, up-front cost of construction. Instead, it will pay $19,000 per inmate per year to the new men's facilities. For the new prison in Ault, that's $28.5 million a year, and for the expansion in Las Animas, $13.6 million. The new women's prison will cost the state $14.2 million for 750 prisoners. The operator of the prison in Las Animas is Corrections Corp. of America, which runs four prisons in Colorado. The CCA prison in Crowley County was torn up by a riot in 2004. That one and another in Burlington were fined by the state for short-staffing last winter. Morgan said CCA has fixed its problems and "we have confidence in their operation." The Ault prison will be run by the Geo Group, which operates a federal immigration jail in Aurora. Geo has been unable to build a 500-bed pre-release prison it promised three years ago in Pueblo after running into repeated zoning problems. Geo's proposal for the Ault prison still has obstacles to overcome. Police Chief Tracey McCoy said town trustees unanimously support the proposal, but the new prison must pay for major water and sewer improvements. Nolin Renfrew, a consultant on the Geo proposal, said the first estimate was $12 million for utilities, on a prison expected to cost $65 million to $70 million to build. Renfrew said Geo will have to determine if it can afford the additional cost of utilities when the final cost is known. If utilities are too expensive, Renfrew said Geo would ask the DOC to be allowed to find another site. It had considered a site near Florence but could not get local approval in time to meet the bid deadline. Ault has had public town meetings on the proposed prison, and "we've been having a hard time finding anything negative," McCoy said. "We've had a lot of people come and speak in favor." The Ault site is zoned industrial for a prison, McCoy said. Another company started the foundation for a prison there some 20 years ago but gave up, McCoy said. CCA proposed 720-bed expansions of two of its prisons, in Las Animas and Burlington. But the state picked Las Animas because transportation is easier and it has a better labor market, Morgan said. Specifically, Burlington has had trouble finding and keeping COs; Las Animas has not. CCA spokesman Steve Owen declined to comment on his company's winning bid in Las Animas. He did say there will be no expansion of the CCA prison in Burlington until there is demand for it. Prisons in Colorado 25 Number of state-run facilities 14,000 Number of prisoners 4,200 Private prisoners 3,600 Other state prisoners; *other facilities unavailable New private prisons Ault: Men's medium- security Beds: 1,500 Operator: Geo Group Expansion: Las Animas men's medium-security New beds: 720 Existing beds: 724 Operator: Corrections Corp. of America New prison: Hudson women's medium-security Beds: 750 beds Operator: Cornell Cos. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think