Local law-enforcement officials today will enter the political fray over November’s budget- reform referendums with a news conference blasting a proposal to ease prison time for nonviolent drug offenders.
The directors of the County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, at a news conference hosted with the Vote Yes on C&D campaign, will condemn the proposed money-saving plan they say would lead to the release of nearly 2,000 inmates from Colorado prisons.
“The kind of Colorado that the opponents of Referendums C and D are proposing is not the kind of Colorado we want to live in,” said Katy Atkinson, spokeswoman for Vote Yes on C&D.
Voters will decide Nov. 1 whether to temporarily loosen the spending limits imposed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
The sheriffs and police chiefs are targeting a proposal that opponents of Referendums C and D have offered as a way to save money.
In February, the Independence Institute, a conservative think tank, released a report that estimated the state spends $109 million annually to incarcerate 3,900 nonviolent drug offenders.
The report says 50 percent of those offenders are “ripe for alternative sentencing,” such as wearing ankle bracelets that monitor their movement.
“All we are saying is that if there are nonviolent criminals, there might be cheaper ways to deal with them than putting them in a $30,000- per-year, taxpayer-funded hotel,” said Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute.
Atkinson said the law-enforcement news conference is intended to cap a two-week radio- advertising campaign by the backers of C and D.
“Get ready for the boogeyman,” Caldara said, dismissing the criticism. “Between now and election day, the pro-tax-increase crowd is going to try to scare you by saying the state is going to release prisoners and push Granny out of the nursing home.”
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-820-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
