Parolee numbers increasing in region's homeless shelters

Study finds host of causes for what some call a 'crisis'

Burt Hubbard, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 28, 2007 at midnight

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More than one in three parolees in Denver and one in four in the metro area are living in homeless shelters or other temporary housing after getting out of prison, a new study has found.

A lack of affordable housing, combined with a rising number of parolees, has led prison officials to increasingly turn to shelters to house ex-inmates.

In one shelter, sophisticated electronic monitors have been installed to track as many as 75 parolees at the same time, and prison specialists routinely make the rounds of shelters, checking on parolees.

"They're in partnership with us," said Tim Hand, assistant director of adult parole for the Department of Corrections. "It's almost like they're part of our structure."

The study, by the Piton Foundation and Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, found that housing was just one of several challenges faced by parolees. Others included difficulty in finding jobs, overcoming substance abuse, supporting themselves and dealing with a patchwork parolee-support system.

"It's really a crisis," said Christie Donner, director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.

The nonprofit Piton Foundation studied parolees as part of its ongoing research into social issues in Denver. It seeks alternatives to incarceration.

Piton analyzed the home addresses of about 6,600 Colorado parolees as of early May. It found that about 37 percent of the 1,377 parolees living in Denver were at homeless shelters or other temporary housing.

In the entire metro area, about one-fourth of the 3,379 parolees were in temporary housing, which is defined as two or more parolees at the same address.

Many live in the shelters immediately after their release from prison. Others may return months later if they fall upon hard times, Donner said.

"People don't have their own money, don't have a family or friends in the area," she said.

Salvation Army shelter

The Salvation Army's homeless shelter in lower downtown housed 141 parolees, by far the most, the study found.

Hand said it's the only shelter in the Denver area that can accept parolees who are sex offenders because it does not house children.

In addition, the state has equipped it with a sophisticated group monitoring system that can track up to 75 people on intensive supervision who are wearing monitoring bracelets.

Other homeless shelters had between 10 and 22 parolees each, the study found.

The per-person costs to the Corrections Department vary from $35 a week at the Salvation Army shelter to $165 a week at some hotels, Hand said.

But, he added, "It's better to pay $100 than have someone sleep under a bridge."

Hand said officials try to transition parolees out of the shelters and hotels within two weeks by giving them training to find jobs.

"After two weeks, we think we have a problem," he said. "The people that are in the shelter now, we've got to get them out of there so the next group can come in."

Hand said parole officials rely on shelter workers to help them keep tabs on parolees, but not provide services such as counseling. Parole officers arrange for those separately, he said.

"We'll go in frequently and ask questions, say, about Jones. How's his mental condition? Does he seem to be adjusting OK?"

Hand said the use of homeless shelters has been building over the past decade. The number of parolees released from prison every year has steadily increased since the 1990s, when the legislature approved mandatory parole for almost all inmates.

Between 1998 and 2006, the number of parolees doubled to about 7,200 a year.

The rise and concentration of parolees at shelters has led the Corrections Department to relax its prohibition about parolees associating with each other or staying in homes where other family members have criminal records.

"We've been forced to look at residences from a little different angle over the course of the last few years," Hand said. "Associating within the shelter is going to happen, obviously. When they leave the shelter, they are not allowed to associate."

Social services officials and homeless advocates, however, are worried about the increased reliance on shelters for housing parolees.

"We're seeing a tremendous impact on the homeless care system," said John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. "It does create a shortage of emergency shelter beds for the general homeless populations."

Besides taking beds, parolees are straining the mental health system, Parvensky said.

Roxane White, manager of human services for Denver, said the use of the shelters for parolees shifts the burden from the state to the city.

"It is not the local community's responsibility to house people coming out of incarceration," she said. "It should be tackled at the state level, not the local level."

But White said recent meetings and initiatives by Gov. Bill Ritter's administration to address the problem have been encouraging.

"It's definitely a problem, but we see hope," she said.

Jobs are No. 1 concern

The study by the Piton Foundation and reform coalition also discovered that finding and keeping a job was the No. 1 concern among parolees.

Half of those interviewed said their felony conviction made it hard to find work.

In addition, about 25 percent of parolees said parole conditions prohibiting driving and the large number of parole-related meetings and classes interfered with their ability to keep a job. Among parolees who were sent back to prison, about 50 percent cited the same problems.

The study indicated that many parolees are ill-equipped for the working world.

About one-third said they had never been employed for a full year before they went to prison, and more than half had a job for six months or less in the year before they were incarcerated.

Education was another problem: Almost 60 percent said they did not have a regular high school diploma.

Hand disagreed with some of the findings on employment.

"We have a lot of felony-friendly employers," he said. "A lot of employers appreciate that our offenders are required to take urine screens, and parole officers are watching to make sure they are being responsible."

He said a bigger problem in keeping a job is the lack of work ethic among parolees.

"Sometimes, we have to impress upon them the importance of getting out there and getting a job," Hand said.

For example, he said, drug dealers may be accustomed to making "$1,000 a week standing on a corner selling dope." But once out of prison, they are told to "put on a McDonald's uniform and get a minimum paycheck."

However, Terri Bailey, Piton's senior research officer, said the issue is more complicated.

"The study uncovered many barriers to employment," Bailey said. "There is little training available for people coming out of prison to prepare them for jobs, and many of them have little or no work history."

Substance abuse was another big hurdle for parolees, the study found.

The study's review of survey data found that about three-quarters of parolees had a drug or alcohol problem at some point in their lives, with almost half reporting a problem in the year prior to going to prison.

Overall, the study said the problems parolees face mount the longer they are in the community, often leading to failure and a return to prison. Last year, more than a third of the new people admitted to prison were the result of parole revocations.

"Overwhelmed with requirements and financial burdens, they struggle to find a job and stable housing, and feeling ill-prepared and unsupported all add up and take their toll," the study found. "What starts out as confidence quickly deteriorates."

How the study was conducted

• Who conducted study: The nonprofit Piton Foundation and Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition with the help of Regis University and the University of Denver

• Where the data came from: More than 400 parolees were interviewed last year who were living in the metro area or who had returned to prison. Researchers also reviewed DOC surveys completed by about 5,900 parolees released from prison over a 2 1/2-year period starting in January 2003.

• Additional information: The foundation analyzed the home addresses, as of early May, for about 6,600 parolees in Colorado to determine which locations housed two or more parolees. The addresses were provided by the Colorado Department of Corrections.

hubbardb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5107

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