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No room for the women

By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 26, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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An inmate peers out of a maximum security cell in Building 21 of the Denver County Jail. The new Denver Justice Center being built downtown on Colfax Avenue will house women only briefly because of a lack of room.

Photo by Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky

An inmate peers out of a maximum security cell in Building 21 of the Denver County Jail. The new Denver Justice Center being built downtown on Colfax Avenue will house women only briefly because of a lack of room.

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The Denver Justice Center under constructionwon't have enough cells for women,who will be bused to county jail.

The new justice center rising from the ground in downtown Denver will not have enough jail beds for women, critics say.

Under current plans, women, who make up 10 percent of the inmate population but as a group are growing in numbers faster than men, will be held in the new facility briefly and bused to the county jail on Smith Road in north Denver for most of their time in lockup.

"We're disappointed women won't be able to have extended stays at the new facility," said Carol Lease, executive director of The Empowerment Program, a nonprofit organization that provides access to counseling, education, job and housing referrals to incarcerated women.

Jail officials, however, say they planned it this way so women inmates would have access to programs at the Smith Road jail that can help them avoid repeat offenses that will land them back in jail.

Still, some activists say women should have the same access to the new jail facility as men.

"Women will be stashed out at county at an old, decrepit facility," said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, which opposed the new jail.

"Part of the whole point for why the county was going to voters and asking for all this money was concerns about the quality of life," she said.

Women inmates surge

Over the past decade, the number of women prisoners in Denver has nearly doubled, while the number of incarcerated men has grown 25 percent, a sheriff spokesman said.

On average, there are about 2,100 inmates housed at the county jail and 250 at the downtown jail.

About 10 percent of those are women, said sheriff's Capt. Frank Gale, a jail spokesman.

The new $286 million Denver Justice Center complex will have 1,500 jail beds when it opens in about two years.

Most male inmates will stay there from the day of their arrest until they are sentenced, which could translate into weeks or months.

Currently, most male and female prisoners stay downtown for about three days until charges are filed before being bused to the Denver County Jail on Smith Road.

Denver sheriff's Capt. Gina McCall said the situation for women won't change much with the new facility.

She acknowledged that women will still need to be bused back and forth from county jail for court appearances downtown, while the men won't.

But she also disputed the characterization of the county jail women's unit as "decrepit." The wing was built in the 1980s, she said, and an upstairs addition was constructed four years ago.

"The old, antiquated, undesirable buildings out here are going to be torn down and newer, modern buildings are going to be put in place of those," McCall said. "Those women are not going to be subjected to decrepit (conditions)."

Access concerns

Lease said her concerns were more about access. She said once the new jail opens it will be tough for families of the women inmates to see them before sentencing because the county jail is so far away.

"We're talking poor people who get put in jail because they can't make bond," Lease said.

Lease said there's evidence that connection with family members helps reduce recidivism.

Gale said concerns about recidivism led jail planners to conclude that it was more important to get women inmates to the county jail as soon as possible to get them enrolled in drug and alcohol counseling programs there, as well as parenting classes and life skills programs, many of which are run by The Empowerment Program.

Those services are not available at the city jail and it would be cost prohibitive to add them, Gale said.

"Most females we get are people that are involved in drug and alcohol issues and prostitution," Gale said. "We need females to have access to those programs sooner if we are going to affect recidivism."

poppenj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5176

Comments

  • February 26, 2008

    12:53 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Theoldguy writes:

    The Criminal Justice system has seen a great growth spurt around Denver. Brush, Sterling, Buena Vista to name a few.Denver County has a facility right next to another prison. The bean counter that read 10% females in the crystal ball should be required to give the money back. The dummy didn't factor in womens rights, an escalating divorce rate and the general ability of the human rats' ability to breed. Ah-ha! It isn't just the guys anymore. Women are becoming active participants in the rat race of life. More surly, more vicious and just nasty. I guess judges are seeing through the "poor me" approach that has worked for many years.