The Board of Larimer County Commissioners invited Professor of Sociology and President of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) Prabha Unnithan to facilitate the public forum on Larimer County’s jail improvement and expansion plans. The forum was held Saturday, June 1 at the Old Town Library in Fort Collins.

A panel of seven local experts took questions from the audience and discussed the perceived positive and negative impacts of the project on the community. The forum addressed if Larimer County needs to improve and/or expand the jail, why the percentage is high of people incarcerated in the jail who are homeless or transient, the CPAT’s (Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool) impact on the incidence of the incarceration of people experiencing homelessness, if the County has done enough to avoid needing to improve/expand the jail, the components and costs of the jail improvement/expansion project, and sources of its funding.

Panelists:
Carol Block, Larimer County Finance Director
Gary Darling, Larimer County Criminal Justice Services Director
Kathryn Hay,  Fort Collins Office of the Colorado State Public Defender Office Head
Sidna Rachid, community member and prison reform advocate
Justin Smith, Larimer County Sheriff
Lynn Thompson, Fort Collins Homeless Coalition
Nick Verni-Lau, Outreach Fort Collins Program Director

The City of Fort Collins’ FCTV live streamed the forum on YouTube, and the recording is available here.