Colorado Lawmakers Approve Prison Bed Funding, Despite DOC Understaffing
Just days after the Colorado legislature’s Joint Budget Committee (JBC) blocked a request from the state Department of Corrections (DOC) for hundreds of new prison beds, lawmakers backtracked and voted to approve the additional beds in a 5-1 vote on January 28, 2026. The DOC will now receive $2.4 million to build 788 beds. Four Democrats on the JBC previously blocked the request, arguing that the DOC and Governor Jared Polis (D) had not presented a plan to address short staffing and delays in releasing prisoners eligible for parole, according to The Colorado Sun. Three of the Democrats reversed course to support the request.
State Sen. Emily Sirota, one of the Democrats who flipped, claimed that not allowing the funding would have diverted more prisoners to county jails, given the overcrowding in the state’s prison system. Not approving the additional beds would have also increased unsafe practices in state prisons such as double-bunking.
The sole no vote on the JBC came from Democratic Sen. Judy Amabile, who told The Colorado Sun that the state should work more on releasing prisoners instead of adding beds. Sen. Amabile highlighted that there are hundreds of prisoners in Colorado who have already been approved or eligible for parole but remain locked up due to shortfalls in housing or programming.
As the request was a mid-year funding measure, Colorado legislators will be able to revisit the DOC’s budget ahead of the state’s next fiscal year.
Source: The Colorado Sun
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