The Denver City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve short-term contracts with two for-profit operators of local halfway houses.

The contracts are stopgap measures that will ensure that the 500 or so people who now live in the facilities will be able to stay there while the city explores alternatives to the corporate contractors. 

“OK, we stop this. What do we do?” Reverend Leon Kelly, who works with many residents of the halfway houses, asked the council before the vote. “I am speaking for those that feel like we are just collateral damage in this war.” 

One contract, a $2 million agreement with GEO Group’s Community Education Centers, will last through this year. The other, with CoreCivic, is worth nearly $6.7 million and will expire at the end of June. 

Many of the people crowding the council chambers applauded the decision, which came just weeks after the council voted against renewing agreements with GEO and CoreCivic amid concerns about what some alleged were substandard conditions at other facilities the companies operate.  

Now, the city is “on a different course,” said Council President Jolon Clark. 

A 13-member committee, including members of the council and community leaders, will look at “other options available” for the operation of the halfway houses, said Greg Mauro, director of the Denver Division of Community Corrections.

The committee will also reexamine the city’s land use and zoning rules for halfway houses, Mauro said. 

“We have to get this right,” he said. “It’s going to be painful. We will see a reduction in services in the short term.” 

Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca, a vocal critic of the companies, emphasized that the council is sending a message that it won’t renew the contracts in the future. 

“We need to be able to hold our providers accountable in a way that serves our local government and serves the people in corrections with high quality standards,” said CdeBaca.

Altogether, the Denver facilities operated by both companies serve roughly 1,000 people a year. CoreCivic has about 360 beds and GEO has about 160. 

Some of the residents have been released from state prisons and are preparing to finish their sentences. Others are serving time at the halfway houses as an alternative to imprisonment. 

Two residents of GEO facilities who spoke to the council praised the company. 

“I was in prison 10 years, lost,” said one woman, who added that she’s since improved her relationship with her family and gotten a job. “Now, I am one of the best people I can be, and I thank God for GEO.” 

But complaints from others in the halfway houses show discontent with the facilities. Residents have expressed a variety of concerns, from the quality of food to being forced to do manual labor, according to grievances Councilman Chris Hinds reviewed at the meeting. 

“I want to make sure we put people above profit,” Hinds said. “It’s well-documented that these companies, at a national level, are problematic.” 

In response, Mauro said that the offenders are typically required to do routine household chores. He said that many different entities monitor and oversee the halfway houses, from Denver Building and Neighborhood Inspections to the state’s Division of Criminal Justice. 

Candace Bailey, who went to a halfway house after she was incarcerated in the early 2000s, compared the existing community corrections system to “a new form of penitentiary” that allows for the “warehousing of human beings.” 

She called on the city to find community-based alternatives. 

“We have community members who are out here doing the work who have experience from inside the walls,” she told the council. “We can either feed the system, or we can do something completely different.”

Following the meeting, a GEO spokesman issued a statement:

“Tonight, residents from [the] Tooley Hall and Williams Street [halfway houses] finally had a chance to speak to Denver City Council. Unfortunately, many others were not allowed to share their stories and successes with the same city council members who criticized those facilities blindly. Fortunately, this contract extension will help provide certainty to our residents and their families and we welcome the city’s support. We hope these same elected officials give our residents and employees a voice in the future.”