DENVER—Fewer inmates are being kept in solitary confinement as Colorado gets ready to close its second maximum-security prison.
The Denver Post ( ) reported Monday that hundreds of inmates once held in solitary confinement have been transferred to less expensive lower-security lockups in the last year.
The strategy comes as the state’s prison population is declining. The initiative is also meant to give inmates educational opportunities.
Colorado prisons’ chief Tom Clements said nearly half the prisoners placed in what’s officially called administrative segregation are released directly into the community.
The moves are one of the main reasons the state plans to close the Centennial Correctional Facility in Canon City by 2013. The Fort Lyon prison near Las Animas closed March 1.
Last year a study found Colorado was keeping prisoners in segregation longer than necessary.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
