October 16, 2009 05:48 PM UTC

Willie Horton, Colorado Style

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• by: Colorado Pols

As most of you know by now, Gov. Bill Ritter has instituted a program in the state Department of Corrections intended to alleviate prison crowding and help close the massive and growing hole in the state’s budget. Under the new program, some inmates are being released about ninety days (on average) prior to their scheduled mandatory release date. The original estimated benefit from this plan was estimated to be around $19 million dollars, though the figure may be smaller since many “eligible” inmates are reportedly not meeting the state parole board’s strict standards.

The key point to keep in mind here is that all of the inmates being considered for early release, whatever their original headline-worthy crime may have been, were going to be released in the next six months anyway, and are arguably being subjected to closer monitoring in the new program than they would have otherwise. That said, there are going to be recidivist convicts released, just like they would be in a few months’ time when their sentence was up. It is what it is, unpleasant choices forced on the state by crippling fiscal shortfalls–not some kind of “open the gates” disaster for public safety.

Unfortunately, this program is being blown out of all earthly proportion by opportunistic politicos–abetted by some of the laziest, most irresponsible reporting we’ve ever seen from the state’s newspaper of record, the Denver Post. It is our opinion that a great disservice to the people of Colorado is being done by this combination of willful demagoguery and journalistic sloppiness. We’ll start with Post reporter Kirk Mitchell’s latest, “Colorado prison cuts possible elsewhere.”

“It doesn’t appear to be working,” said state Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, referring to Gov. Bill Ritter’s plan to cut $19 million from the budget by releasing thousands of prisoners on parole up to six months early. “Their assumptions were bad, or something.”

Lambert, a member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said the issue should be addressed when the committee meets in November and December…

Following a report Wednesday in The Denver Post that showed a sex offender, a man convicted of vehicular homicide and a felon arrested 46 times were among the first 10 inmates given early releases, Republican lawmakers called on Ritter to end the program immediately.

On Thursday, the newspaper learned that Rick Martinez, 48, an inmate with a record of 46 arrests, absconded on Oct. 6 and a warrant for his arrest has been issued.

“When something goes terribly wrong, it won’t be just the governor who bears responsibility,” said Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley. “It will also reflect on every member of the General Assembly who failed to step forward in opposition.”

There’s a very simple reason why, after a string of increasingly silly attacks on the state payroll, the Governor’s internal discussions about the next round of forced budget cuts, even the use of state aircraft on official business–which has dropped considerably–Republicans have turned with all the outrage they can pump up to this “slightly-early” release program. It’s because convicts are scary and provoke emotional reactions. Just as Willie Horton was lethal to 1988 presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, all it’s going to take is one of these convicts getting “released early” and committing a new crime, and you’ve got an issue you can demagogue all the way to the polls next year. And it works: the visceral fear inspired by a mugshot in a television ad next to the words “back on the streets” is a powerful weapon.

It won’t matter in the 527 ads featuring Bill Ritter’s Willie Horton, whoever he turns out to be, just like it apparently doesn’t matter to Kirk Mitchell, that these convicts would all be back out on the streets in the next six months anyway. It won’t matter that the program is likely to result, based on its more intensive supervision and support services, in an overall lower rate of recidivism among participants. All it’s going to take is the one splashy incident, and off we’ll go.

What’s even worse about this latest “report” from Kirk Mitchell is he apparently doesn’t care that the title of the story, “Colorado prison cuts possible elsewhere,” is itself highly questionable:

Lambert said the DOC could reduce the budget by cutting staff, sending inmates to less costly private prisons or cutting programs. “We have some serious questions we need to ask them about this.”

The early-release program did not result in any layoffs in public prisons, Sanguinetti has said. It will only affect private prisons, which will lose $57.41 per day for each inmate released early.

Parole board chief Dave Michaud, who supports this program (Mitchell conveniently omits this detail), notes that we could also give lots more paroles–to illegal immigrants so they could be deported, and to inmates who could be transferred to other states where they are due to serve time. As for Lambert’s suggestion of cutting staff and rehab programs, ask any already-hard pressed corrections worker what he thinks of those ideas. Once again, they’re not serious proposals to cut the budget–and whatever is workable among them should be done in addition to this accelerated transition program, not as an irrationally-provoked replacement.

Bottom line: what we’re seeing here is an opening for Republicans, with help from a lazy (or complicit) reporter, to drive home an attack that has proven effective time and time again–and the opportunity to damage Ritter on an emotionally responsive issue erases all questions for them about dishonest and wildly hyperbolized claims. They won’t miss this chance to either nauseate or terrify you–depending on how informed you are.

But you’ll also notice we haven’t said anything to the effect of “this won’t hurt Ritter.” For the reasons we’ve outlined above, and all the ways misinformation seems to trump reality lately, even in the pages of the state’s largest newspaper…we’re not nearly as sure of that.