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The Door

Colorado Springs, Nov 28 -

By DENNIS HUSPENI
THE GAZETTE

On the outside, it looks like any mediumty prison.

From the high, razortopped fences, to the fourstory, mostly windowless concrete and brick walls.

But on the inside, it’s obvious something different is going on at the Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center.

El Paso County’s newest prison, which began taking inmates in August, is run by a private company — the New Jersey-based Community Education Centers — and overseen by the Colorado Department of Corrections.

As it gets more expensive to house inmates, Colorado has started contracting with more private prisons. Including CMREC, there are six private facilities in the state, housing about 3,484 prisoners, according to the department. The cost to the state is about $77 per day, per inmate at state-run facilities. The department is paying CMREC $50.25 per prisoner, per day.

Colorado incarcerates 21,115 people per year, and 7,904 people are on parole, according to the department. About 2,450 of that population are in community corrections facilities, or halfway houses. Department officials estimate Colorado’s prison population will increase about 4 percent a year.

“The goal is to stop building huge prisons,” said CMREC director Robert Hood, “then filling them the next day.”

Located at 2925 E. Las Vegas St., the 750-bed facility holds 323 men who will become the first “graduating class” of the center. Some are finishing up long sentences for violent crimes. Some are simply parole violators who would have gone to a state prison.

They call it “The Door,” because they hope they can walk through it in 180 days to the freedom of society.

“I’ve accomplished more in the last two months since I’ve been here than I did in the last five to seven years in the DOC,” said Richard Kadinger, who’s serving time for cracking safes.

“Where we came from, we were not treated as a human,” said Warren Dow, who at age 18 murdered someone and has been in Colorado prisons for years. “There, you were seen as your crime. Here, they give you a chance. . . . The staff here looks at you from a fresh perspective.”

In fact, these men aren’t even called “inmates” or “prisoners” — they’re “residents.” Hood, who until April ran the federal SuperMax prison complex in Florence, is the “director.”

“These people are going to be your neighbors,” Hood said. “What do you want to be walking on the street next to you?”

Some of the differences between the CMREC and other Colorado prisons:

- It’s clean and bright, which seems obvious since the prison is new. But Hood is a stickler about cleanliness. On a recent tour, a single candy wrapper was the only piece of trash found out of place in the whole prison. It was picked up immediately by the “Dirt Team” — residents who keep it sparkling clean.

- Signs are everywhere — on every hallway and in almost every room. The signs espouse words of wisdom, instructions for life, or inspirational sayings such as “Take Responsibility for Your Happiness.”

- Residents begin every day by chanting words on “Attitude,” a “Credo” and “The Choice is Mine.” For example: “We will strive to understand how our old behaviors, attitudes and decision-making caused ourselves and others sorrow and pain.” Staff members chant right along with the residents.

“Subconsciously, over time, it starts to sink in,” said resident Anthony LeBate.

- Residents live in a pod with several others. Their furniture is wood. Mattresses are 6 inches thick, rather than the usual 2 inches. They’ve even got a closet, a storage bin and a door on the toilet area.

- Instead of being allowed to watch countless hours of television or pump weights every day (CMREC doesn’t have a single barbell), residents here submit to 40 to 50 hours a week of classes and training. It’s not simply GED classes, either. Residents undergo “cognitive learning” classes where they learn to rethink how to react in given situations.

“They know we come from a volatile environment, where it’s hard to defuse instant anger,” said Tom Payseno, a “lifer” who’s been in the system for more than 26 years. “You’re used to surviving for so long. . . . This is like a cushion, and I can ease my way back into the community.”

Instead of looking in fear over their shoulders, these men seem to look out for each other and to help each other succeed.

“Snitching is not acceptable here or on the outside,” said Thomas McGuire, executive assistant. “It’s discouraged by our staff.”

On a recent tour, Hood dropped into a classroom full of residents. He asked what would happen if a resident fell behind in his work.

“We pick him up, not push him down,” replied one resident. “He’s part of our team. You can’t drive on three wheels.”

- Women There are several female staff members who work with residents daily.

“The presence of women has really cleaned up my life,” Payseno said. “Back in the system, the talk would put drunken sailors to shame. Now I hardly ever cuss. That’s a big change.”

CMREC is still a prison.

If residents step out of line, there’s a section of the prison called the Special Housing Unit (they call it “the shoe”).

That unit contains regular cells that are a more drab pale green color, contrasting starkly with the rest of the center. Even in isolation in “the shoe,” residents can see the signs.

For resident Richard Drake, the difference between CMREC and other prisons is pronounced.

“It’s easier to be at a ‘normal’ prison,” said Drake, who’s been in for 23 years. “You can sleep all day and watch TV.”

Drake, who’s working to become a janitor on the outside, provides one example of the difference.

“In two months I’ve only seen one fight,” he said. “Where I came from, there was a fight at least once a week. I know because I’m the cleanup guy. I used to mop up all the blood spilled.”

Hood said the center is putting the “corrections” back in prison work.

“A lot of places put ‘correctional facility’ on their door, but that’s just terminology for them,” Hood said.

“This is the best chance they have in the Department of Corrections,” McGuire said. “On that side of the door, they’re inmates. On this side, they’re residents.”

But since there’s no guarantee the parole board will let them out if they complete the program, residents say they’ve taken a leap of faith coming here.

The center hopes to slash the recidivism rate of “graduates” by 50 percent, thus saving taxpayers the cost of putting them back in prison. Colorado’s recidivism rate is about 52 percent.

The work that Community Education Centers has done in other states provides hope that goal is attainable.

A study that Drexel University in Philadelphia conducted on New Jersey Department of Corrections prisoners showed that inmates who completed the CEC program are far less likely to end up back in prison — about 30 percent less likely than the national average.

The New Jersey DOC recently renewed the CEC contract.

“We’re exceedingly pleased with our relationship with CEC,” said spokesman Matt Schuman. “They continue to do outstanding work, which is why we didn’t hesitate to renew their contract.”

Said lifer Payseno: “The general public has to understand that we’re better off graduating from this system.”


Copyright: Freedom Colorado Information, Inc.