CANON CITY, Colo.—Work has begun on a new state prison to help relieve overcrowding that has forced officials to send some prisoners out of state.
The state needs the second ultrahigh security prison as a tool to help safely manage, “in many cases a very dangerous population,” said Ari Zavaras, director of the Department of Corrections.
Former state Rep. Lola Sparely told the Pueblo Chieftain that she had pushed for the $162 million prison partly to ensure the safety of staff as well as the public.
“It is so needed for those of you who daily serve for the safety and security of the public to be able to put offenders in an environment where everyone around them is safe,” Spradley said. The administrative maximum security prison was OK’d by the Legislature and then-Gov. Bill Owens in 2003 at a cost of $102 million, but a lawsuit delayed the construction, driving the price up.
“The lawsuit was kind of a tragic thing for the state,” said Zavaras. “If it had gone in 2003 it would have saved the state a lot of money.”
The prison, just west of the Centennial Correctional Facility complex, will have 948 steel cells in 450,000 square feet. Inmates will build the cells at the metal shop at the nearby Fremont Correctional Facility.
“What does this prison mean? A little over 500 more jobs to add to the 1,186 corrections jobs we currently have in Fremont County,” Zavaras said.
Contracts will be offered bids within the next 30 days.
