DENVER—Pam Kahanic was working as a corrections supervisor when the state cut 588 full-time employees during the last recession in 2002. In 2007, when state lawmakers were still struggling to cover staffing shortages created by those cuts, an inmate took her hostage and slashed her throat.
On Friday, she begged lawmakers not to make that mistake again as lawmakers look for ways to cover a $1.5 billion shortfall in next year’s $18 billion budget.
“Cutting staff any more or reducing training we receive will only make the job that much more dangerous,” she said. “We just can’t afford to have any more staff taken away from us.”
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, a Democrat from Pueblo West, said one proposal from Republicans would have forced the Department of Corrections to cut 291 more jobs next year. Lawmakers killed that proposal, saying they need to avoid cuts that hurt public health or safety.
Lawmakers also cut 90 more corrections jobs from this year’s budget.
McFadyen said the state has already cut too many corners by housing 1,300 dangerous inmates in less secure facilities.
Last month, Ritter proposed that one third of the new high-security Colorado State Penitentiary be opened to hold 316 prisoners on July 1 following the deaths of three inmates in the past year.
McFadyen said that covers only a third of the dangerous inmates who are already in the prison system.
Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Fruita, said there are other ways to cut the budget than by laying off prison guards, including salary cuts.
“Buffie and her union bosses need to pump the breaks on the over-the-top, Tony Soprano rhetoric. Every dollar we spend paying bloated union salaries or hiring new state employees is a dollar we can’t spend in classrooms,” Penry said.
Robert Autobee, whose son, Eric, was killed at the Limon Correctional Facility in 2002, said across-the-board budget cuts are not the answer for the state’s economic woes.
“People need to get their heads together and find some other way to balance the budget,” he said.
Bill Nelson, a prison guard who helped rescue Kahanic, said the Department of Corrections has cut back spending to the point where gas masks are falling apart, flashlights only work four hours and they can’t replace a phone for hostage negotiations.
