COLO. PRISON POPULATION AMONG FASTEST-GROWING

Colorado's prison population is one of the fastest-growing in the
United States at a time when critics say the state cannot afford the
expansion.

A report due today from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics shows
that Colorado ranks behind only Maine and Rhode Island and is tied
with Connecticut and Minnesota for rate of incarceration growth, said
Stephen Raher, co-director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform
Coalition.

Maine's prison population grew at 11.5 percent in 2002 while Rhode
Island's grew at 8.6 percent. Prison populations in Colorado,
Connecticut and Minnesota expanded at a rate of 7.9 percent, Raher
said.

"Colorado's love affair with prisons is causing our criminal justice
system to collapse under its own weight, and it is dragging the rest
of the state with it," said Raher, whose organization advocates
alternatives to prison. "While the fiscal implications of prison
growth threaten every Coloradan, this crisis is also about families
and communities who have been devastated by the mass incarceration of
citizens, particularly low-wage workers and people of color."

The prison report comes as the state's prison population pushes
19,000, more than five times what it was 20 years ago. It comes a few
months after the Colorado General Assembly and the governor authorized
$103 million to build a new prison for violent criminals. Sean Duffy,
Gov. Bill Owens' deputy chief of staff, said lawmakers and the
governor worked together to expand prison capacity.

"That's a demonstration that not just the governor but Democratic and
Republican legislators understand that a central focus of any effort
to protect the people of Colorado must be a prison system that locks
up criminals," Duffy said. "Most Coloradans would not be disturbed by
the notion that Colorado is focused on ensuring that we can
incarcerate criminals."

Democratic state Sen. Ken Gordon, who has fought for sentencing
reforms to slow the rate of prison growth, said he was dismayed, but
not surprised, by the numbers.

"Everyone agrees that violent criminals need to be locked up," said
Gordon of Denver. "The hard question is, 'Are you helping the state if
you use education dollars to lock up thieves and people who possess
small amounts of drugs?"'

Gordon said spending on prisons was 2.5 percent of the total budget in
the early 1980s. Today, it is close to 9 percent.

The report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics coincides with the
annual report from the Colorado Department of Corrections, released
earlier this month.

The DOC report shows that half of the male prisoners in the state and
nearly three-quarters of female prisoners are serving time for
nonviolent offenses. DOC data also state that more than half of
Colorado's prisoners are past their eligibility date for parole.