Families of Skyline Correctional Center inmates petition against DOC proposal to close facility

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A Colorado Department of Corrections facility designed to rehabilitate inmates could be closed indefinitely, and incarcerated individuals hoping to turn their lives around, are devastated at the news.

A Change.org petition, begun on Jan. 21st, has now garnered more than five hundred signatures following an announcement to inmates at the Skyline Correctional Center that they would be transported to other facilities following the DOC's decision to cut 326 beds this year. The facility, making up 126 of those beds, will be shuttered temporarily, according to the document released by the Department of Corrections this week.

The document details that projections show a 2.49% decrease in the number of inmates in the next fiscal year. To account for that, the DOC is hoping to reduce the amount of beds to cut costs. They will also close down 200 beds at the Buena Vista Correctional Complex.

The changes are set to occur by April 1st, 2024.

The Skyline "Beacon" Correctional Center is a facility where inmates get to apply and interview to be transferred to following good behavior in prison.

According to its website, "The Beacon operates with a completely new organizational structure, mission, and philosophy. The Beacon is a correctional community that uses a human-centered, collaborative approach to support healing, growth, and a renewed purpose for incarcerated residents and staff."

According to former Skyline inmate Geordan Morris, that culture shaped him and helped him to re-enter society as a functioning individual. Morris says he will interview on Friday to be a peer recovery specialist after a week of being out of the facility. He said he had served eight years before he got the chance to interview and apply for the facility, and served his ninth and final year there. He faced multiple drug-related charges when he was incarcerated, among other criminal charges.

"Without that platform, I don't think I'd be in the position that I'm sitting in right now. I'm applying to be a peer recovery support specialist. And what that means is I'll be working with people who are struggling from addictions and I'll be able to help people heal from trauma," Morris said.

The facility was just re-opened last year and is a pilot program, allowing residents a new opportunity to gain skills to reintegrate into society after they've proven themselves in higher-level correctional facilities. The biggest difference, however, is not just the classes and opportunities, but the difference in culture. Morris says that from the get-go, he was treated like a person, not a number.

"To be told that those opportunities are going to be moving to a level five, it would be devastating," Morris said.

According to the DOC's budget proposal document, 96 of the 126 current inmates at Skyline will be moved to Centennial Correctional Facility, which is a level five or maximum security prison.

"[I felt] a lot of anger too, of just how cool it was to have this program that's actually going to help people and then to hear that there's going to be this huge setback in criminal justice reform ... we were angry." Payton Rae said.

Rae currently has a loved one incarcerated at the center and began the Change.org petition when she heard about the changes this week. She is one of three women who have loved ones at the facility who spoke to KRDO13 today exclusively against the facility being shut down.

"It really makes us question whether or not they support the rehabilitation aspect, because that's what this program stands for, is the rehabilitation," Brandy Dickson said.

Dickson also has a loved one at Skyline and says that she's seen a massive change in his demeanor and attitude since he was transferred there.

The DOC announced this decision to lawmakers earlier this week, to which many expressed opposition and asked questions. One of the main questions lawmakers asked was why they would choose to make the necessary cuts from the Skyline "Beacon" Correctional Facility, to which the speaker did not have a response.

KRDO13 reached out to the DOC, asking the same. In a statement, they confirmed the proposed cuts but did not answer why they would choose to make these cuts from the facilities they chose.

"The department proposed to close the facility and move the program.  The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee is working through the supplemental budget process, and the department continues to engage with the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee to provide information, including a meeting of the committee tomorrow."

Alondra Gonzalez-Garcia, Department of Corrections

Per the email statement, the DOC will meet with lawmakers to discuss the proposed changes Jan. 25th. However, the Department of Corrections has not released how and if lawmakers' and citizens' concerns will have any impact on their decisions.