What They Don't Tell You Can Hurt

Recently the Pew Center released a study showing the appalling state of incarceration in the United States. The July 24th edition of the Economist magazine released a similar study, bringing America's dirty little secret to an international audience. The prison statistics for the U.S. are shocking; 2.3 million Americans behind bars more than the top 35 European countries combined, 1-12 African American men are incarcerated, 1-36 Hispanics. The numbers speak volumes for the state of social and criminal justice in America.

In Colorado, abusive prison policy is manifested in the state's regressive indeterminate sentencing. Below, contributing columnist; Curtis Brooks describes what the justice system in Colorado all too often fails to tell those facing this abusive sentence.

What They Don't Tell You Can Hurt

By Curtis Brooks

In many courtrooms in the state, judges and public defenders fail to tell the defendant facing an indeterminate sentence that it is a combination of factors and criteria that will ultimately lead to their possible parole.

The first thing to realize is that although the parole board has the final say, they are guided and advised by the CDOC Mental Health Department who offers a recommendation based on the inmates completion of seven criteria established through a state regulatory board.

According to CDOC documents, in order for an inmate to get the recommendation of the mental health department he must complete the following seven criteria.

1. Complete phase I mental health treatment. (This program is overwhelmed, underhanded, and understaffed. It can take years for an inmate to get into the program and 6-12 months to complete. After completing phase I an inmate is put on another waiting list to enter into phase II - this phase lasts the duration of incarceration. The state is currently being sued in a class action suit over the lack of statute required treatment for inmates.)

2. Support person. (The inmate must have a support person willing to endure required meetings and training, and restrictive activities when the inmate is released. Imagine making a loved one your de-facto parole officer.)

3. Stay write-up free for a year. (This means following the rules in prison, not always as easy as it sounds. It is a prison after all and the guards and inmates are not always the most stable if they were would either be in a prison?)

4. The inmate must show they are able to be supervised in the community without presenting an undue threat.

5. The inmate must comply with any drug therapy prescribed by prison staff.

6. The inmate must pass two polygraph exams. (See below) 7. The inmate must have defined and documented his/her criminal offense cycle, and had the document approved by mental health.

Once an inmate jumps through these hoops it is still not guaranteed that he will be released, even if he has completed his sentence. The 12-year rate of parole for those with recommendations is under three percent. * There are inmates who have been serving over a decade past their legislatively intended release date and still have not been paroled. The court and the public defender rarely tell a defendant these statistics and the truth behind an indeterminate sentence - if they did they know there would be far more cases going to trial. The practice is a convenient deception for an overworked broken system, working for everyone but the defendant.

Polygraphs
Who would believe that CDOC could keep an inmate incarcerated indefinitely based on an inconclusive polygraph when that same polygraph is not recognized or admissible in a court of law? In Colorado the polygraph is not only used to justify continued incarceration past an inmates release date, but also to coerce the inmate to violate his constitutional right against self incrimination while interrogating him about possible past criminal activity.

How do you feel about this practice? Write InsideWire and let us know what you think.

It is currently costing the state over $400,000 per indeterminate inmate to receive a recommendation from mental health and be paroled. (This price tag does not include the cost of incarcerating an inmate years past his release date)