🚀 go-pugleaf

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!
WE NEED SUPPORT TO END THE WAR ON DRUGS.
For more information, contact Christie Donner,
Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice
Center, (303) 444-6981 or mailto:cdonner2@   juno.com

 * * * * *  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * *  * * * * * * * * * *
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Prison Moratorium Bill (SB104)

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Press Conference:   Tuesday, January 25th at 10:30a.m.,
Press Room at Capitol    (3rd Floor, Rm326)

Lobby Day:

Tuesday, February 1st from 9:00a.m. - 12:00p.m.
            (Brief training by Bill Vandenberg at Colorado Progressive
            Coalition at 9:00 a.m. at Senate Democratic Office
(2nd Floor,  Room 274))
(if you plan to come, please call Christie at (303) 444-6981 to rsvp)

SENATE JUDICIARY HEARING:
Wednesday, February 2nd at 1:30 p.m. at Senate
 Committee Hearing Room (3rd Floor,
Room 356)
(If you would like to testify at the hearing, please contact
Christie asap)

    We need as many people to attend these events as possible to show the
strong community support for SB104.  For organizations that have endorsed
the campaign, please pass this information on to your members and try to
have at least one representative at the Press Conference & Senate
Judiciary Hearing.
    **If any of your organizations have a lobbyist, please ask them to
remember SB104.

 *  *  *  *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  *   *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
 ACTION ALERT!!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(1)     Contact all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge
them to vote "YES" on SB 104 (if they won't support the moratorium, URGE
THEM TO VOTE FOR THE TASK FORCE.)  We need 2 of these members to join our
current supporters.  If you are a CONSTITUENT of one of the Senators,
please tell them that.  Also, if you are a member of an endorsing
organization/faith community, please remember to include that info. and
that over 50 organizations across the state endorse SB104.

*Sen Dottie Wham, (R-Denver) (Chair), Cap. Phone: (303) 866-4875; fax:
(303)757-   0781; email: none
*Sen John Evans, (R-Aurora/Littleton), Cap. Phone: (303)866-4881; fx:
(303) 866-   2012;  email: evansjo@sni.net
*Sen John Andrews, (R-Aurora/Englewood), Cap. Phone: (303)866-4883; fax:
(303) 866-  2012; email: andrewsjk@aol.com
*Sen Mary Ellen Epps (R-Colo Spgs.) Cap. Phone: (303)866-6364; fax:
(303)866-2012;  email:mepps@sni.net
*Sen. Ken Arnold, (R-Brighton, Westminster, Denver) Cap. Phone:
(303)866-4876; fax:     (303)439-7987
 TOLL FREE (Outside of metro area) 1-888-473-8136 (Senate)

(2) Submit letters to the editor and contact media in your area and ask
them to report on this important issue.

Denver Post, 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202, (303) 820-1010; (303)
820-1369 fx;    letters@denverpost.com
Rocky Mountain News, 400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204; 892-5000;
fx-(303)892-2841;   letters@rockymountainnews.com
Pueblo Chieftan, P.O. Box 4040, Pueblo, CO 81003 (719)544-3520; fx
(719)544-5897;  newsroom@chieftain.com
Colorado Springs Gazette, 30 S. Prospect, Colo Spgs, CO 80903,
(719)632-5511; fx-  (719)636-0333; dann@gazette.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
                                                             BACKGROUND
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    Senator Dorothy Rupert (D-Boulder), Representative Penfield Tate
(D-Denver) and Representative Ben Clarke (D-Denver) introduced a PRISON
MORATORIUM BILL (SB 104) that would halt further public or private prison
expansion in Colorado until July 1, 2003 and would establish a 17 member
multi-agency and community task force to reevaluate current drug
sentencing laws; explore the cost and effectiveness of alternatives to
incarceration, including prevention and treatment strategies; study the
impact incarceration has on children; analyze the factors influencing
minority overrepresentation in prison; and study issues affecting
reintegration.   The bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary
Committee for a hearing on February 2, 2000 at 1:30p.m. at the Senate
Committee Hearing Room, 3rd Floor, Room 356..

 WE MUST SUPPORT THIS IMPORTANT LEGISLATION.
We need as many people as possible to attend the Senate
Judiciary Committee hearing!!!!    Please
also call the members of this committee and urge them to vote YES on the
moratorium bill.  If they won't support the moratorium, urge them to vote
YES on the task force.  The creation of the task force and the prison
moratorium can be voted on separately.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
FACTS
 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*The prison population has dramatically increased over 400% since 1984
and is projected to increase another 40% by 2005.

*Since 1984, over $3 billion in state funds have been spent on prisons.
The Department of Corrections is requesting a budget of $474 million this
year, the fastest growing budget in the state.  Incarceration costs an
average of $25,000 per person annually and each prison cell costs between
$75,000 - $100,000 to build.

*By Colorado law, annual state government budget increases are limited to
6% a year.  When the prison budget increases more than 6%, money from
other departments must be cut.  While prison expenditures have increased
10-15% each year for the last 10 years (not including prison construction
costs), funding for public K-12 education, when adjusted for inflation,
has actually decreased ranking Colorado 49th in the nation for public
school funding.  Meanwhile, almost 80% of prisoners are functionally
illiterate.

*Last year, one-in-three women and one-in-five men sentenced to prison
were convicted of a drug offense.  Drug offenders are the largest and
fastest growing category of felon in prison, increasing 476% in the last
ten years.  Over 78% of prisoners are in need of drug/alcohol treatment
but only a small percentage will receive treatment while incarcerated.

*People of color are the majority of prisoners in Colorado.  According to
a recent Colorado Legislative Council report, African Americans are ten
times more likely than Anglos and Latinos/as are four times more likely
than Anglos to be incarcerated in Colorado.  People of color make up 21%
of the Colorado population, 57% of the prison population, and 18.6% of
the entering freshman at four year colleges in Colorado.

*The number of people in prison with a serious mental illness is growing
at an alarming rate from over 10% of the prison population to 15% by
2005.

*Colorado has sufficient prison capacity to meet projected need through
2002 and additional capacity is available from the over 1000 out-of-state
prisoners current held in various private prisons in Colorado.

*The majority of prisoners are parents.  Children with a parent in prison
are 5 to 6 times more likely than other children living in poverty to be
incarcerated.

*Since the election of Gov. Owens and the appointment of new parole board
members, parole release rates have plummeted.  Currently 40% of prisoners
are past the date they are eligible for parole but are still
incarcerated.  Last year, over $150 million was spent on continuing to
incarcerate people beyond the time they are eligible for parole.

    Over 50 organizations and faith communities throughout Colorado have
endorsed this legislation in a strong showing of community support for
alternative sentencing, prevention, and treatment options, particularly
for nonviolent, drug offenders.  In spite of the evidence that
alternatives are cost-effective, they are underfunded.  In spite of the
evidence that alternatives are enforceable and have a significant affect
on recidivism, they are underutilized.  Despite the fact that crime
prevention should be of paramount importance, we continue to "get tough"
on crime after the fact.  Even though most Americans view addiction as a
disease and overwhelmingly support treatment instead of incarceration,
our government continues to pour money into prison construction and
maintenance, despite the fact that very few people will receive treatment
while incarcerated.  The guiding principle behind alternatives is that
prisons should be the last resort, used only for our society's most
violent and dangerous citizens.  Alternatives to incarceration provide
creative responses that serve the real needs of the individual and the
community.

ENDORSERS: 9-5 Colorado(Denver), Action for a Better Community (Denver),
American Friends Service Committee (Denver, ), Amnesty International
(Denver), Black Professional Business Associates of Colorado (Denver),
Boulder Green Alliance, Boulder Unity Church, Brother Jeff's Cultural
Center & Cafe (Denver), Cell Door Magazine (Mancos), Colorado Alliance
for the Mentally Ill (statewide), Colorado Coalition Against Domestic
Violence (statewide), Colorado Council of Churches (Denver), Colorado
Criminal Defense Bar (statewide), Colorado CURE (Denver ), Colorado New
Jewish Agenda (Denver ), Colorado NOW (statewide), Colorado Progressive
Coalition (Denver ), Colorado Vincentian Volunteers (Denver), Colorado
Women's Agenda (Denver), Cuba Information Project (Denver), Denver
Justice & Peace Committee (Denver), End the Politics of Cruelty (Denver),
Epimethian Press (Colo. Spgs.), Equality Colorado (Denver), Free Speech
TV (Boulder), Friends and Families of the Imprisoned (Aurora), Good
Shepherd Sisters of Denver, Jewish Voices for Justice (Colo. Spgs.),
Justice Information Center--Immigration Project (Denver), Law Center for
Women Prisoners (Boulder), Left Hand Book Collective (Boulder), National
Lawyer's Guild (statewide), New Foundations Nonviolence Center (Denver),
Northern Colorado-CURE (Fort Collins), Pikes Peak Justice and Peace
Commission (Colo. Spgs.), Prison Dharma Network (Boulder), Rocky Mountain
Mennonite Conference (Pueblo), Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center
(Boulder), San Luis Valley Welfare Advocates (Alamosa), San Luis Valley
Christian Community Services (Alamosa), Southern Chapter of Colorado-CURE
(Manitou Spgs.), St. Mary's Cathedral (Colo. Spgs.)(Vincentian Center for
Spirituality & Work ( Denver), Urban League of Denver, Urban League of
the Pikes Peak Region, Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (Boulder),
Washington Park United Church of Christ (Denver), Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom (Boulder & Greeley), Women United for
Justice, Community & Family (Boulder), Women's Empowerment Program
(Denver), Word is Out Women's Bookstore (Boulder), and more...


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