“Visitation is rehabilitation”: Lawmakers push to recognize right to visit for prison inmates in Colorado

Colorado lawmakers are trying to make it a right — rather than a privilege — for inmates in the state’s prisons to receive visitation while incarcerated.

Now, inmates in Colorado’s 19 state-run prisons can have their visitation privilege revoked if they violate the Department of Corrections‘ rules, which can include infractions like failing to work. House Bill 1013, if passed, would specify that visitation can be limited only when necessary for routine operations or safety.

The bill cleared its first hurdle on a party-line vote Wednesday, with support from the majority Democrats. It does not have formal opposition, but the Department of Corrections has raised concerns about the possibility of more inmate lawsuits and says the bill needs more specificity about when visitation could be revoked over matters of safety.

“It shifts the perspective on (visitation),” said Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat who’s sponsoring the bill. “Right now, people have to earn the right to see their families.”

She added: “Family bonds are universal and inherent to humanity, and therefore we want the right to be reflected as that.”

Family members of incarcerated people and former inmates testified to the House Judiciary Committee for hours about the challenges current policy creates: people driving for hours and spending hundreds of dollars, only to be denied a visit at the last minute; the emotional toll on children who suddenly can’t see their parents; and the psychological punishment of being cut off from loved ones.

Darius Taylor, who spent 22 years in prison and now works for the Center for Employment Opportunities, a post-release reentry nonprofit, testified that he relied on visitation as a “lifeline” and “vital source of hope, encouragement and accountability.”

“Visitation isn’t just about seeing someone face to face,” Taylor said. “It’s about being reminded of who you are beyond the confines of incarceration. Those moments with my family reminded me I was still a brother, a son, a friend. Not just a case file or a number.”

Visitation also helps with recidivism. Advocates for the policy cited research that found people who saw visitors while in prison were less likely to be convicted of new crimes in the years immediately after release.

Stephanie McGuffie spoke to the committee as “a mother whose heart has been broken by being denied visitation rights” to her son, who has been in prison for 16 years.

She called his loss of freedom a “consequence of his choice,” but she said he spirals into despondency, anxiety and suicidal thoughts when visitation is denied. It’s also a punishment to her. Families are a source of strength, she said.

“When you strip away the physical connection, you also strip away hope, belonging and the will to persevere,” McGuffie said.

The committee’s Republican members all voted against the bill.

Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican, said he agreed with encouraging more family visits in prison. He noted the litany of “horrific” stories they heard about visits being cut short because people wore the wrong color, or a child was too rambunctious. But making visitation a right, versus how it exists today, is “one step too far,” Soper said. People are in prison because they’ve been found guilty of a crime, and the consequences of that include the loss of certain liberties, he said.

“I think there are other ways to encourage — maybe strong-arm — the Department of Corrections into making sure the stories we heard are not systemic and happening time and time again,” Soper said.

The bill still needs to clear the House Appropriations Committee and the full chamber before it can be considered by the Senate. It is also sponsored by Rep. Regina English and Senate President James Coleman, both Democrats.

In a statement, department spokesperson Alondra Gonzalez wrote that officials hope to continue working with lawmakers, but warned the current version “would not permit the agency to restrict visitation in any way that ensures safety.”

“Within the prison environment, there are times when it is unsafe to provide an escort of an individual for an in-person visit due to the behavior of the incarcerated individual,” Gonzalez said in the statement.

The bill does not explicitly create an avenue for lawsuits but instructs the department to allow inmates to file administrative grievances. Adrienne Sanchez, the policy and legislative director for the department, warned that even without a direct path to litigation, making visitation a right could nonetheless lead to more lawsuits.

That worry spurred legislative analysts to include a fiscal note on the bill, specifying estimated costs to the state — a potential death knell for legislation in a year when the state faces a shortfall of up to $1 billion.

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