Colorado prisons make small profit from inmate work program

Auditors say Colorado prisons are making big profits from charging inmates for phone calls and other personal items. But they’re struggling to break even from shops run by inmate labor to make furniture and other goods sold to state agencies and the public.

The report examined a division of the state prison system called Colorado Correctional Industries, which employs 16,000 inmates with the goal of providing them job training.

Democrats and prison officials say the lack of profits doesn’t tell the whole story because the jobs give inmates valuable training for when they’re released.

The audit found that CCI made a profit of 1 percent in 2012 and 2013 from its inmate-run shops and lost about $10,000 in 2014. In contrast, canteen operations have averaged a 20 percent profit during those years.