Staffing shortages in Colorado prisons creating dire conditions for incarcerated people

Prisons in Colorado are severely understaffed and that is hitting workers especially hard. But the effects of this shortage stretch far past the staff.

“You have not only the stress on the staff from the vacancy, you have the disruption of normal functionality for the department as a whole and, then of course, this incredible negative impact on the people who are incarcerated,” said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, which wants to see more money invested in community initiatives and less spent on the prison system.

Donner and her colleagues recently released a report surveying hundreds of incarcerated Coloradans about their living conditions amid the staffing shortage. She sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss what incarcerated people said about their experience.