• miss_millions
• Nobody home.

A few years ago, prisons were overcrowded.

We just couldn't get enough of them. Now, we have the opposite problem: Prisons sitting empty. There are — as the press release below notes — a variety of reasons for this. But it's safe to say that new laws that have given drug offenders a chance to get treatment instead of spend time in the slammer have contributed.

The state plans to hold a meeting Tuesday in Colorado Springs to talk about what should be done with empty facilities.

More information is below:

Public Meetings to be Held to Discuss Future Prison Utilization

DENVER — Thursday, May 30, 2013 — During the week of June 10 - 14, the Colorado departments of Local Affairs and Corrections and the Governor’s Offices of Economic Development & International Trade and State Planning & Budgeting, will co-host meetings in communities across the state which are home to a state public or private contract prison. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the State’s plan forward for appropriately utilizing state prisons and assisting communities which may be adversely impacted by changes in utilization or prison closures.

Because of a variety of factors, Colorado’s prison population has been declining in recent years and there is an excess capacity of prison beds. In 2012, the Colorado General Assembly commissioned the Prison Utilization Study which directed the Office of State Planning and Budgeting to contract for a system-wide analysis that identifies the most appropriate and cost-effective uses of the available public and private inmate beds. Pursuant to statute, the Office of State Planning and Budgeting will work with the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee to develop a plan going forward.

The 90-minute meetings will include representatives from each of the hosting entities and allow time for questions from and open discussion with the audience.

About the upcoming meetings, Gov. John Hickenlooper said, “We are committed to doing everything we can to identify the impacts that changes in prison operations may have on local communities. These meetings allow for a critical dialogue in this process.”

The schedule for these community meetings is as follows:

• June 10: Sterling, Burlington, Limon
• June 11: Colorado Springs, Crowley, Las Animas, Trinidad
• June 12: Pueblo, Canon City, Buena Vista
• June 13: Delta, Rifle
• June 14: Hudson

A list of meeting dates, times and locations follows.

SCHEDULE - COMMUNITY MEETINGS TO DISCUSS PRISON UTILIZATION
JUNE 10 — 14, 2013

MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2013
Sterling, Burlington, Limon

Community Meeting: Sterling, Logan County
Time: 9 a.m.
Address: Northeastern Junior College
100 College Ave
Hays Student Center, 2nd Floor Ballroom
Sterling, CO 80751

Community Meeting: Burlington, Kit Carson County
Time: 2 p.m.
Address: Burlington Community Center
340 S. 14th Street
Burlington, CO 80807

Community Meeting: Limon, Lincoln County
Time: 5 p.m.
Address: Limon High School Cafeteria
874 F Ave.
Limon, CO 80828

TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2013
Colorado Springs, Crowley, Las Animas, Trinidad

Community Meeting: Colorado Springs, El Paso County
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Address: Citizens Service Center
Pikes Peak Workforce Center, Room 1020
1675 Garden of the Gods Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80907

Community Meeting: Crowley, Crowley County
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Address: Crowley County Senior Center
401 Colorado Ave.
Ordway, CO 81063

Community Meeting: Las Animas, Bent County
Time: 3:15 p.m.
Address: Las Animas Elementary School
531 Poplar
Las Animas, CO 81054

Community Meeting: Trinidad, Las Animas County
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Address: Trinidad State Junior College Student Center
600 Prospect St.
Trinidad, CO 81082

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013
Pueblo, Canon City, Buena Vista

Community Meeting: Pueblo, Pueblo County
Time: 8 a.m.
Address: Pueblo County Courthouse
Board of County Commissioners Chambers
215 W. 10th Street
Pueblo, CO 81003

Community Meeting: Canon City, Fremont County
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Address: City Hall
128 Main Street
Canon City, CO 81212

Community Meeting: Buena Vista, Chaffee County
Time: 3 p.m.
Address: Community Center
715 E. Main Street
Buena Vista, CO 81211

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2013
Delta, Rifle

Community Meeting: Delta, Delta County
Time: 9 a.m.
Address: Delta Courthouse
501 Palmer St.
Delta, CO 81416

Community Meeting: Rifle, Garfield County
Time: 1 p.m.
Address: Colorado Mountain College Auditorium
3695 Airport Road
Rifle, CO 81650

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013
Hudson

Community Meeting: Hudson, Weld County
Time: 9 a.m.
Address: Hudson Fire Station Training Room
702 Cedar St.
Hudson, CO 80642

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• Sen. John Morse

The recall push, led by the Basic Freedom Defense Fund, officially comes as a reaction to Morse’s advocacy for the state’s new gun control laws, most notably a limit on ammunition magazines and a requirement for background checks. Paid petition-gatherers, however, have been filmed using other rationale, including a claim that Morse wants to repeal the state’s Make My Day law.

Morse, a former police chief, says that’s not true, adding that his legislative aim was to stop or slow mass shootings, like the ones in Aurora and Newtown, Conn.

“There were 20 6-year-olds that were shot in the face,” he said. “I mean their little bodies were carried out with their Power Rangers T-shirts covered by a sheet. There are people who think we should do nothing about this, but I’m not one of them.”

The recall election is not automatic. Gessler is required to throw out invalid signatures, or those from people who don’t live in Morse’s district. Opponents need 7,178 valid signatures to force an election.

While Morse has said in the past that he would not step down from his seat to avoid the recall, he was more evasive on that point at a June 3 press conference, saying only that he wouldn’t resign “now.”

• Spokesman for Basic Freedom Defense Fund

It appears that the grassroots effort to recall Sen. John Morse has attracted some monied supporters.

We recently wrote about the Basic Freedom Defense Fund, the organization behind the statewide effort to recall a number of Democratic legislators in response to their votes on the gun bills, as well as the El Paso Freedom Defense Committee, its local offshoot. At that time, it appeared that the activists behind both had very little in the way of outside support.

Now, according to ColoradoPols, that seems to have changed. "One of the most prominent (and ethically questionable) petition signature gathering firms in Colorado, Kennedy Enterprises, has been hired to take over petition drives for some or all of the recall campaigns presently underway."

Pols goes into some detail about Kennedy, which is located here in the Springs, noting: "In 2010, Kennedy conducted the paid petition gathering campaign on behalf of the "Bad Three" anti-tax initiatives, Amendments 60, 61 and Proposition 101."

Plus, someone leaked video of a signature-gathering training session. It is clear from this video that Morse is the target.

Now that Kennedy appears to be involved, any notion that this effort to recall Morse is just a group of grassroots activists hitting the streets to flex their democratic muscle needs to be dismissed. It might have started that way, but professional signature-gathers don't come cheap.

As an example of the kind of money we are talking about (and the tactics Kennedy is willing to employ): According to a 2007 document, in a pitch to Colorado AFL-CIO, Kennedy proposed "to insure that the 'Right to Work' initiative does not qualify for the Colorado Ballot in the 2008 general election."

For $2 million, Kennedy would essentially corner the market by buying up all the professional signature-gatherers in the state and having them sign a contract with a clause stipulating that "they cannot circulate the Right to Work initiative."

Of course, the AFL-CIO didn't want to see the Right to Work initiative succeed (and it didn't), but according to sources the union didn't take Kennedy up on this proposal.

See it by downloading this PDF:

Proposal.pdf

With the signature of Gov. John Hickenlooper on HB 1258, Colorado has overturned the 2006 law, SB-90, that instituted myriad law-enforcement requirements intended to make it life harder for illegal immigrants.

We wrote about SB 90 when it was signed into law.

But on the day of the protests, Gov. Bill Owens signed into law the first in a series of piercing immigration bills, several of which give powerful tools to local law enforcement. One bill which some touted as the country's toughest against illegal immigration effectively bars people without papers from getting government benefits. Another allows the Colorado State Patrol to act like federal agents, in part by bringing undocumented people to the state's main detention center in Aurora. And finally there's Senate Bill 90, also known as the "anti-sanctuary bill," which compels peace officers to report arrested undocumented immigrants to the feds.

According to the press release from Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition:

In 2006 Colorado, along with South Carolina, became one of the first states in the nation to pass controversial “show me your papers” legislation. Colorado’s SB-90 required police to report people suspected to be undocumented to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the time of arrest. SB-90 was a testing ground that gave way to controversial laws like Arizona’s SB 1070 and its copycats.

“A diverse, bipartisan coalition came together to repeal what was a harsh, anti-immigrant law,” said Bob Norris of El Comité de Longmont. The Community and Law Enforcement Trust Act — supported by The County Sheriffs of Colorado, the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, the Colorado Municipal League and others — will repeal Colorado’s SB-90 in its entirety.

“In Colorado we have lived through the effects of extreme enforcement measures that undermine the trust necessary for police to effectively do their jobs,” said Rebecca Vasquez, steering committee member of the Campaign to Unite Colorado. “Repealing SB-90 is an important first step towards restoring trust. When our communities engage and tell our stories we can create positive change. We want thank the state legislators, the Governor, and key allies that have helped us to set an example for the country that 'show me your papers' laws are not the solution to our broken immigration system.”

While El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa opposed HB 1258, Arapahoe County Grayson Robinson testified in favor of the legislation. As Robinson told us:

[HB 1258] simply eliminates a "duplicative and an unnecessary cost."

As he points out, Colorado sheriffs participate in Secure Communities, a federal program that checks a person's status automatically when he or she is booked into jail. Secure Communities is superior to the 2006 law for a number of reasons, he says, including the elimination of "concerns or allegations of bias-based policing."

• provided
• Celebrating governor's signing of HB 1258

• Chris Melcher

Better late than never.

Yesterday afternoon at 4:55, way past our deadline to send the paper to the printer, we received an e-mail from the city of Colorado Springs.

It was in response to a request for comment from Colorado Springs City Attorney Chris Melcher. The Indy submitted the request to Cindy Aubrey, the chief communications officer for the city, last week.

We were looking to include Melcher's point of view in a story about House Bill 1160.

Here's the gist of that story (that can be read in full here):

Is the Legislature preparing to "decriminalize" theft?

Pretty much, says Dan May, district attorney for the 4th Judicial District. May, whose office covers El Paso and Teller counties, is one of a few people speaking out against a bill that recently passed the House on a unanimous, bipartisan vote.

Based on work done by the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, HB 1160 essentially does two things. The first, which was the impetus for the bill, is to clean up the theft statutes in the state criminal code.

As May explains it: "consolidating them all into one section, and then sort of redefining it in an easier-to-handle method to understand all the little theft laws." He has no problem with this, he says.

What he does have problems with is how these theft statutes are redefined in terms of monetary value. Most concerning: This bill would raise the threshold at which a misdemeanor becomes a felony, from $1,000 to $2,000.

"It will decriminalize theft to some degree," says May, "because you are making a much greater population of misdemeanors."

Anyway, here's the e-mailed statement from the city:

“The City of Colorado Springs currently has jurisdiction to prosecute theft and shoplifting violations that are equivalent to the misdemeanor level, which involves amounts up to $1000. The bill, which changes the dollar amounts associated with misdemeanor and felony theft, would enable the City to prosecute violations where a value of up to $2000 is involved if City Council were to amend the City’s theft and shoplifting ordinances to give the City jurisdiction over those violations. These legislative changes could possibly increase the number of cases filed in Municipal Court. The Prosecution Division is glad to prosecute any appropriate case that is filed in Municipal Court and can be proven.”