{"id":29475,"date":"2024-01-30T10:11:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T17:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-could-pay-3000-to-thousands-of-people-leaving-prison-if-they-stick-to-the-program\/"},"modified":"2024-01-30T17:11:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T17:11:00","slug":"colorado-could-pay-3000-to-thousands-of-people-leaving-prison-if-they-stick-to-the-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-could-pay-3000-to-thousands-of-people-leaving-prison-if-they-stick-to-the-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado could pay $3,000 to thousands of people leaving prison \u2013 if they stick to the program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Demetrius
Demetrius Somerville was a recent recipient of a privately funded grant of $3,000 for people leaving incarceration. He spoke at the Colorado State Capitol on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in support of a measure to provide similar grants from public dollars for thousands more people leaving jail or prison. (Andrew Kenney\/CPR News)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SB24-012 could create the largest program of its kind in the country, spending millions of dollars to support thousands of people over two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would put us at the top, as the leaders in this,\u201d said Valerie Greenhagen, regional director of the nonprofit Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a nonprofit that provides support for people leaving incarceration.<\/p>\n

But the measure has run into some early resistance: The Department of Corrections testified against it at its first hearing Monday. The Department charges that the bill was written so only one nonprofit \u2013 CEO \u2013 will qualify to run the grants program.<\/p>\n

CEO is already administering a similar, but much smaller, pilot program in Colorado. That effort is funded by private donations; among its recipients is Demetrius Somerville, 48, a Colorado Springs resident.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople might think you\u2019re just giving them fish, but you\u2019re teaching \u2019em how to fish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Somerville once had a promising college basketball career at George Mason University, but it was derailed by an injury and he later became involved in drug trafficking. In the decades since, he was incarcerated several times, including a seven-year federal prison term on drug charges and, more recently, a stint in jail for alleged violation of a restraining order stemming from a domestic dispute, he said.<\/p>\n

Upon his release, he started working on a highway trash-cleaning crew through CEO. At the same time, he qualified for up to $3,000 from the prototype version of the reentry grant. He\u2019s hopeful the extra money will help him break the cycle of recidivism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to buy a car and that opened up a lot of doors for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI was able to be there for my kids, seek more gainful employment, and also hopefully find a better job and get to that job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nonprofit\u2019s pilot program only has enough funding to serve about 100 people. If the state bill passes, it would provide tens of millions of dollars in funding to offer similar grants to thousands of people.<\/p>\n

The state legislation would set up a \u201cpilot\u201d program, running from this year until July 2026. In that time, state analysts estimate it could serve close to 9,000 people, at a total cost of more than $22 million. About $2 million of that sum would go to the nonprofit to cover its expenses.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an exponential increase over the state\u2019s current spending of about $1 million per year in similar support for those leaving incarceration. State law requires that most people leaving the Department of Corrections receive $100 in \u201cgate money,\u201d according to Greenhagen.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s overall corrections budget is more than $1 billion. The sponsors argue that while the grant program may cost a lot up front, it could save much more if it reduces recidivism rates. The measure is being sponsored by Sen. James Coleman, Sen. Julie Gonzales, Rep. Mary Young, and Rep. Javier Mabrey, all Democrats.<\/p>\n

Criticism from the Department of Corrections and others<\/div>\n

Corrections officials have made it clear they\u2019re strongly skeptical of the bill.<\/p>\n

Adrienne Sanchez, director of policy and legislative affairs for the Department of Corrections, said the department had a number of concerns, starting with the fact that the measure is written so narrowly that DOC believes it could only be fulfilled by a single nonprofit \u2013 presumably referring to CEO.<\/p>\n

The bill text states that preference for the contract to run the program should go to an entity that has \u201cdemonstrated success in providing workforce services or training programs, administering cash assistance, and collaborating with service providers who assist persons after incarceration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis unfairly limits the department\u2019s and participants\u2019 ability to select the reentry provider,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Greenhagen acknowledged that since her nonprofit, CEO, is the only one in the state running a similar program already, it likely would get preference under the current language of the bill.<\/p>\n

But she said the group would be \u201cvery happy\u201d to compete for the contract, and it also would support another organization if it\u2019s not selected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether we\u2019re the best organization to facilitate that or someone else is, what we\u2019re really for is the impact to the people that we serve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sanchez, of DOC, also critiqued what she described as a lack of clear objectives for the bill. And she said the department is pursuing its own strategies for supporting formerly incarcerated people, including paying them more for work performed while incarcerated, and expanding post-release support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill duplicates services already being provided,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A study of an earlier program run by CEO, the nationwide Returning Citizens Stimulus program, found that most participants spent the money on \u201cbasic needs,\u201d and that the vast majority stuck with the program, completing tasks such as getting health checkups, attending workshops and filling out resumes. But as of September 2021, the ongoing study \u2013 carried out by the nonprofit MDRC \u2013 could not yet say whether cash support ultimately kept people out of the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

Cory Gaines, a conservative commentator and educator in northeastern Colorado, was the other critic of the bill at its first hearing. There may be room to improve upon the $100 in \u201cgate money\u201d currently paid by the state, he said, \u201cbut I question whether 30 times that amount is going to have 30 times the effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hearing on Monday allowed both sides to share their views but ended without action. Sen. Gonzales asked that a vote on the measure be delayed so the sponsors could work on the measure and address concerns.<\/p>\n

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently vetoed a similar measure due to cost concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Demetrius Somerville was a recent recipient of a privately funded grant of $3,000 for people leaving incarceration. He spoke at the Colorado State Capitol on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in support of a measure to provide similar grants from public dollars for thousands more people leaving jail or prison. (Andrew Kenney\/CPR News) SB24-012 could create […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,28,533],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-headlines","tag-prison"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29475"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}