Prison Trip I

Yesterday I gave you my general impressions. Today I’ll detail some of the trip. This has officially turned into a series. Stay tuned.

The trip was informative and interesting. We visited the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility (est. 1871). When the Colorado Territory was being organized, Cañon City had first pick for one major state facility: either the prison or the University of Colorado. Even then, Cañon City knew it did not want any hippy liberals.

CTCF houses the “Tag and Tab” plant where they make the license plates. The process was interesting. It turns out that that facility not only produces our hundreds of styles of plates, but plates for Alaska, some of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a foreign country or two. As a surprise, the guys made us license plate clocks-- real license plates in the Designer style-- customized with our names on them. Mine is already hanging in my office.

CTCF also houses the Prison Trained K-9 Companion Program (PTKCP). In this program, inmates earn the privilege to work with the dogs. The cell house that once housed death row and the execution chamber now houses the inmates and dogs in the program, where trainer and dog stay in the same cell. They can teach the dogs everything from simple commands to handicap companions to hunting dogs. The inmates and the dogs alike benefit from the program.

Tomorrow I will detail the Colorado Women's Correctional Facility.