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Colorado's struggle with prison overcrowding

By Douglas A. Berman

Here are excertps from another (all-too-common) story of a state struggling to figure out what to do about its growing prison population:Colorado will be more than 4,600 prison beds short by 2014 if it does not start immediately on a nearly $800 million proposal to build or expand five correctional facilities, Department of Corrections Executive Director Ari Zavaras says.... Projections show the state getting by with existing facilities for two years. The system will add 1,010 beds in two projects in 2009, providing a projected 125-bed surplus. But because officials project a 4.6 percent annual growth in prisoners, the system could be short 900 beds by 2011.... [Governor] Ritter wants the state to build beds to meet the projected need.  Said spokesman Evan Dreyer: "I would think that our need is immediate, so we do need to address today's prison-bed demand in an immediate fashion...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 17, 2008 (boomark / email).