A measure working its way through the Colorado legislature seeks to provide all inmates money, a transit pass and identification upon release from Department of Corrections facilities.

Proponents, including former prisoners, said it will reduce recidivism and provide people with the tools necessary to rebuild their lives.

The measure, if enacted into law, would cost $2 million over two years. Legislators are considering the measure at a time when the state is facing a $1 billion-plus in budget deficit.

Under House Bill 1256, the state corrections agency would be required to provide inmates with at least $100 in “gate money” upon release, as well as a 30-day transit pass. The bill also requires the department to ensure inmates nearing their release date have a valid state identification card, collect data on the process of securing those identification documents and report their findings to the Colorado General Assembly.

The proposal cleared its first House committee last month.

Alannah Jones, a former prisoner, said she knows firsthand how difficult it is to adjust to life on the outside, even when one has the proper identification and is financially stable.

Jones said her identification documents were confiscated during her arrest and she has been unable to retrieve them. Despite completing the paperwork for a new Social Security card two years before her release date, she never received it, she said.

Without proper identification, it’s nearly impossible for former prisoners to get jobs, housing or health care, she said. Many of the individuals Jones was incarcerated with had their driver’s licenses expire during their prison sentence, and they don’t know how to get a new one, she said.

Jones said a colleague of hers at her transitional home was looking forward to getting a job but had to wait until he received a Social Security card. After months of waiting, he became frustrated and ran away, she said. As far as Jones knows, he is still on the run. Had HB 1256 been law at the time, her colleague would have been able to get a job almost immediately upon his release, Jones said.

While Jones received a debit card upon her release from the Sterling Correctional Facility, she knows others aren’t so lucky, despite the state technically being required to provide inmates with gate money.

DOC has been required to provide individuals with gate money for more than 50 years, but Jones said there is nothing holding the state accountable to actually do so.

“From my understanding, the majority of people that I’ve talked to never got their gate money,” she said.

According to a survey conducted by the Center for Employment Opportunities, about two-thirds of inmates did not receive gate money upon leaving prison. Those who did received an average of $33.

The state hasn’t adjusted its gate money amount since 1972, Jones said. If adjusted for inflation, that $100 would actually be nearly $800 today.

The transit pass is “another critical component” of the bill, Jones said. When she was released from Sterling, she was given a one-way bus ticket to Denver’s Union Station. Getting to her parole office meant taking another bus ride, which she paid for with her gate money.

Senate Bill 1256 passed unanimously through the House Judiciary Committee and is scheduled to be heard by the chamber’s Appropriations Committee on April 24. The bill’s fiscal note said it would cost the state nearly $1 million over the course of two years. The note added those costs can be covered with existing funds.

While the bill received unanimous support from House Judiciary, several members expressed frustration with the corrections agency for not providing the required gate money to all inmates upon release in the first place.

“What strikes me with having to bring this bill is having to come back and re-legislate what DOC should already be doing,” said Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Adams County, during the bill’s committee hearing. “If we are true to what should be the intention of the Department of Corrections, then we should actually consider coming back again and saying the amount does need to change with inflation. It should not be kept at this minuscule amount that can definitely make a difference, but is not what is necessary.”

Rep. Rebecca Keltie, R-Colorado Springs, questioned why the state didn’t mention the gate money issue during its annual SMART Act hearing at the beginning of the session.

“DOC should have been here today to answer some questions, and they’re not,” she said. “I’m irritated because we now have to close some loopholes in a program that has been working all this time, or should have been working all this time, and now we have to make a law for it because they can’t seem to follow rules.”

The bill is sponsored in the House by Reps. Jamie Jackson, D-Aurora, and Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, and in the Senate by Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Evergreen.