State representative takes aim at GEO Group in letter to DOC chief Zavaras.

DENVER - State Rep. Buffie McFadyen is trying to get the state to tear up a contract it awarded a private prison company last summer.

The Pueblo West Democrat sent a letter to Ari Zavaras, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, to ask him to rescind a contract DOC gave to the Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group. The company was awarded a contract to build a 1,500-bed pre-release facility in Ault, which is located about 10 southeast of Fort Collins.

Late last year, the state nullified a similar contract it had with the same private prison company to build a 1,000-bed facility at the Pueblo Memorial Airport Industrial Park.

The state killed that 2003 contract, in part, because the company was demanding a guarantee that at least 90 percent of its beds be filled at all times, something state prison officials said would never happen.

McFadyen said she also objected to that contract because it was asking for public financing for the Pueblo project, saying that and the bed guarantee were not part of the original plan they bid on.

Now, McFadyen said the company is asking for those same things again.

"I think the state was held hostage for four years waiting for those beds," McFadyen said of the Pueblo project. "I believe if we go forward with this (new) bid, the state of Colorado is again going to be in the same situation of waiting on a contractor to build . . . on a bid process that really has no integrity to begin with."

Officials with the private prison could not be reached for comment.

Though McFadyen already has called for the state to rescind the 2006 contract to GEO, she said she decided to make it official when she heard "rumors" that the company might try to relocate the Ault facility in Pueblo

"Why would we believe that GEO Group would perform in Pueblo in 2007 when they never performed in 2003?" she asked.

She also said the contract award was tainted because it came with the aid of Nolan Renfrow, who helped GEO get the contract while he still was DOC's director of prisons.

McFadyen wasn't alone in her call.

The Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government and the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, also demanded that the contract be rescinded.

"We, too, have no confidence in the integrity of the procurement process," said Christie Donner, executive director of CCJRC, which also is a long-time opponent of private prisons. "Due to GEO's failure to perform on the 2003 contract, we find it impossible that the GEO could have met the statutory requirements" to qualify for another state contract.