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| Colorado prisons turn away from heavy use of solitary confinement |
| By denverpost.com - Kirk Mitchell |
| Published: 06/04/2012 |
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On paper, murderer and white supremacist Daniel Scott Dias appears to be the type of prisoner Colorado officials should lock up in a maximum- security prison cell and throw away the key. And for years, that basically was how the Colorado Department of Corrections dealt with many violent felony offenders. But in the past year, Dias and hundreds of other prisoners have been transferred to lower-security lockups as part of a new systemwide strategy that is less costly and gives inmates more educational opportunities. The strategy is partly based on some sobering statistics. "Ninety-seven percent of those who are locked up will get released," DOC executive director Tom Clements said. Of those prisoners in administrative segregation, 47 percent are released directly to the community, he said. The mass transfer of inmates from segregated single cells to general-population cell blocks is one of the main reasons Colorado will close Centennial Correctional Facility in Cañon City — its second maximum-security prison to shutter — by 2013 and before a newly built prison will be completely filled. Colorado closed its first prison, Fort Lyon Correctional Facility, on March 1. Read More. |
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