The city council voted 8-4 on Tuesday against renewing contracts with CoreCivic and GEO Group, which run six halfway houses in the Denver area.
The Denver City Council cut ties with the country’s two biggest private prison companies on Tuesday.
In recent months, for-profit detention facilities have faced particular scrutiny for housing children in poor conditions. GEO Group has a contract with the federal government to run a detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, which is just outside Denver, though it is not affected by the vote. David Morales was one of the attendees who opposed the resolution. He singled out a current lawsuit against CoreCivic from a mother whose one-year-old daughter died following release from federal immigration custody in Dilley, Texas.
Supporters of the contracts included people working at community corrections centers and members of the Denver Community Corrections Board, whose members are appointed by the mayor and advise city officials on alternative sentencing programs like halfway houses. Jane Prancan, chairman of the corrections board, said at the meeting that if the halfway houses shut down, residents will lose the services they provide to ease their transitions back into the community. She also asked council members to consider the staff employed at the facilities.
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