Crowding at Denver’s jails is causing officials to consider letting more criminals serve out their sentences at home with electronic monitoring.
With the jail population hovering some 800 above capacity, Denver County judges on March 3 will consider a proposal to expand the jail’s house-arrest program.
Currently, only inmates with jobs qualify for in-home detention. If the plan is approved, unemployed misdemeanor offenders would also be considered, but not if their charges involved domestic violence.
Discussions are also underway on the possibility of extending the program to felons jailed for probation violations.
“I think if it’s properly monitored there’s nothing wrong with it,” said Chief County Judge Andrew Armatas.
But William Woodward, who last year reviewed the jail’s operations for the National Institute of Corrections, cautioned that the program should have safeguards.
“Are they going to do risk assessments on these people to tell us how likely it is that they will do more crime?” asked Woodward, who criticized the jail in his report for failing to properly assess inmates.
Division Chief William Lovingier of the Denver Sheriff’s Department said eligibility would be determined by the type of offense.
Offenders released to their homes would receive periodic visits from sheriff’s deputies who would make sure they are looking for jobs, he said.
“We’re trying to stem the tide rather than just warehouse them in the jail,” Lovingier said. “If we can get them out there and help them find employment and keep them incarcerated at their home, then we fulfill the judge’s sentence and help that person become more stable.”
Officials are considering the plan as a way to ease crowding at Denver’s two jails, which as of Wednesday housed 2,475 inmates in facilities designed for 1,672.
The cramped conditions have forced jail officials to erect tents outside the jail as a stopgap measure.
The number of inmates is on the verge of exceeding the initial capacity for the new $378 million justice center, scheduled to open in 2009.
The proposal was welcomed by the Colorado Progressive Coalition, which campaigned against the new justice center and pushed for more rehabilitation programs.
“It definitely seems like a step in the right direction if it is set up so that people without jobs can get jobs and continue to successfully reintegrate back into society,” said Tanya Wollerman of the coalition.
Currently about 10 inmates in an average day are released to serve the remainder of their sentence at their home with electronic monitoring, Lovingier said.
The plan the county judges will review next week would release an additional 30 to 40 individuals on any given day.
Lovingier said officials are still trying to find out how many individuals the program could serve if it expands to include probation violators.
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-820-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
