Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration has added more than 50 new guards at youth prisons in response to a recent jailbreak and rash of assaults behind bars, but state lawmakers are questioning how the hiring took place.
Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, on Tuesday wondered whether the department’s initial request for extra hires was “purposefully deceitful.”
The concerns led the Joint Budget Committee to unanimously reject the request for additional money.
The Colorado Department of Human Services to address safety issues and federal staffing mandates, but director Reggie Bicha made no mention that the agency already started hiring in November.
The lawmakers didn’t learn about the 53 hires until Tuesday, when the department, which oversees the Division of Youth Corrections, asked for an extra $1.2 million this year to pay the new guards.
The committee’s move doesn’t mean the new guards won’t get paid — the division can transfer money within its budget. But it came as a symbolic push back against the administration.
Steadman said he supports improving safety, but he faulted agency leaders for the miscue. “These plans didn’t happen overnight. And to keep it a secret … just really seems like poor form,” he said.
Sen. Kent Lambert, the committee chairman, said the agency’s transparency problems are not new.
“Transparency, (it) appears to me, is what’s needed here,” the Colorado Springs Republican said. “It’s just hard to understand where the department is going on this when they don’t communicate their real needs.”
The department asked to use unspent money in the current budget’s overestimation of youth offenders in the system to cover the cost.
