"We are failing in this particular area of our mission," Rick Raemisch, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections said. "Our mission isn't really about running more efficient institutions. ... Our duty and primary mission is to make a safer community ... and the way we make a safer community is by having no new victims."
Raemisch has drawn national attention in recent months to his work on reforming solitary — including his most recent high-profile try at living it himself for 20 hours.
Colorado Department of Corrections executive director Rick Raemisch answers questions from the media at DOC headquarters on February, 21, 2014.
Colorado Department of Corrections executive director Rick Raemisch answers questions from the media at DOC headquarters on February, 21, 2014. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)
He documented his experience in a New York Times op-ed last week.
Raemisch said Colorado's numbers have already improved.
In 2012, 140 prisoners were released directly from administrative segregation; this year, that number is two. Last spring, 50 severely mentally ill prisoners were serving in solitary; now that number is four, he said.
Raemisch acknowledged to the panel that some prisoners are so sick — or have made implicit threats — they can't be removed from administrative segregation.
"There are some diseases for which there is no cure," he said. "I get that, but I also understand in all other areas there is so much room for improvement."
He also said that 23 hours a day of isolation is subjective and should also be explored.
"Why is 23 the magic number? How about 20; how about 18; how about 15; how about we start at 23 and they behave for a couple days then it's 22?" he said. "There is all kinds of incentives we can use to change someone's behavior."
Joining Raemisch on the panel Tuesday was Piper Kerman, the author of "Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison," as well as Damon Thibodeaux, a Louisiana death row inmate who was released in September 2012 after being exonerated.
Both panelists urged the politicians to explore reforming how administrative segregation is defined and prison conditions.
