RE-EXAMINE OUR SENTENCING LAWS AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS

Denver's powers-that-be might want to think again before attributing the
defeat of the new $526 million Denver jail to simple NIMBYism or the
economic downturn.

The facts remain that a majority of Denver voters see no reason for our
city to build a Cadillac jail while we have Yugo-quality schools. Spending
more than $500 million, with interest, for the proposed jail is a
ridiculous waste of taxpayer money. This cost is even more than the price
of the new taxpayer-subsidized football stadium!

Denver voters also rejected the big-money "Willie Horton"-style TV
commercials designed to strike fear in the hearts of residents. Coloradans
are tired of shoveling money to prisons as a cure-all and believe that, if
we continue to build bigger and more expensive prisons, we must round-up
more and more of our neighbors to fill the cells.

With racially discriminatory sentencing laws and policies that treat people
with chemical addictions as criminals, it's easy to see how fast jails can
be filled even though we're rehabilitating nobody and stealing much needed
funds from our schools in the process.

If the mayor, the sheriff and police departments, and most City Council
members were smart, they'd learn from their defeat and not try to ram a
costly new jail down the throats of Denver taxpayers again. Expand the
current facility, save the taxpayers' money, and re-examine our sentencing
laws and treatment programs.

Bill Vandenberg, Co-director, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Denver