Colorado § 17-1-203 - Powers and duties not delegable to contractor.

§ 17-1-203. Powers and duties not delegable to contractor.

(1) A contract executed pursuant to this part 2 shall not be construed as authorizing, allowing, or delegating authority to the contractor to:

(a) Choose the correctional facility to which an inmate is initially assigned or subsequently transferred. The contractor may request, in writing, that an inmate be transferred to a facility operated by the department. The executive director and the contractor shall develop and implement a cooperative agreement for transferring inmates between a correctional facility operated by the department and a private contract prison. The department and the contractor must comply with the cooperative agreement.

(b) Develop or adopt disciplinary rules or penalties that differ from the disciplinary rules and penalties that apply to inmates housed in correctional facilities operated by the department of corrections;

(c) Make a final determination on a disciplinary action that affects the liberty of an inmate. The contractor may remove an inmate from the general prison population during an emergency, before final resolution of a disciplinary hearing, or in response to an inmate's request for assigned housing in protective custody.

(d) Make a decision that affects the sentence imposed upon or the time served by an inmate, including a decision to award, deny, or forfeit earned time;

(e) Make recommendations to the state board of parole with respect to the denial or granting of parole or release; however, the contractor may submit written reports to the state board of parole and shall respond to any written request by the state board of parole for information;

(f) Develop and implement requirements that inmates engage in any type of work, except to the extent that those requirements are accepted by the department;

(g) Determine inmate eligibility for any form of release from a correctional facility.

Source: L. 95: Entire part added, p. 1269, § 1, effective June 5. L. 2000: (1)(a) amended, p. 838, § 20, effective May 24.

ANNOTATION

Subsection (1)(c) sets forth three separate circumstances in which a contractor may remove a prison inmate from the general prison population. The clause "before final resolution of a disciplinary hearing" is a separate category and does not modify the phrase "during an emergency". Gatrell v. Kurtz, 207 P.3d 916 (Colo. App. 2009).

Because private prison lacks authority to make a final determination on a disciplinary action that affects the liberty of an inmate, timely filing of an appeal is measured from the date of the private prison's monitoring unit's decision and not the date of the warden's decision. Geerdes v. Colo. Dept. of Corr., 226 P.3d 1261 (Colo. App. 2010).