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U.S.
Senator Member: Agriculture, Energy, Veterans' Affairs, Ethics and Aging Committees |
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For Immediate
Release November 17, 2006 |
CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Comm. Director 303-455-7600 Andrew Nannis – Press Secretary 202-224-5852 |
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Washington, DC – United States Senator Ken Salazar met today with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to discuss staffing and security concerns at the “Supermax” facility and the need for additional federal law enforcement resources in Southwest Colorado. Attorney General Gonzales committed to touring the “Supermax” facility with Senator Salazar as soon as his schedule permits. The Attorney General also re-stated the Bureau of Prison’s commitment to add 18 staff members to “Supermax” by the end of this month. “’Supermax’ is not just another prison,” said Senator Salazar. “Since it contains criminals who are the worst of the worst, the employees of ‘Supermax’ and the surrounding community must be protected. For the same reasons, we must ensure that no one is capable of wreaking more havoc once they are within the walls at ‘Supermax’. “The Attorney General’s commitment to add staff is a welcome step in the right direction. I was also pleased with his willingness to look into hiring more employees who speak Arabic to better monitor prisoners. The Attorney General also committed to looking into increasing perimeter security at the site with both a perimeter fence and a guarded gate entrance. Along the same lines, we spoke of working to ensure that the technology within ‘Supermax’ is top of the line.” The Nation’s most dangerous federal prisoners are held at the “Supermax”. Recently, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General issued a report concluding that “the Bureau of Prisons has not ensured that mail for terrorist and other high-risk inmates . . . is consistently read and analyzed to detect terrorism, criminal activities, or other inappropriate behavior.” “The Attorney General and I also spoke at length about the need for increased federal law enforcement in Southwest Colorado, specifically the tribal areas of the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute reservations,” added Sen. Salazar. “I was pleased to get his commitment to send an additional FBI agent to the area to address the growing lawlessness in the area as well as his pledge to examine the possibility of sending an additional Assistant U.S. Attorney to the area. The Attorney General will also look into a proposal I made to create a taskforce to bring in state and local law enforcement to help with the efforts there.” The murder rate on the Ute
Mountain Ute and Southern Ute reservations is 75 per 100,000, compared
to 5.7 for the nation and 3.7 for Colorado. Making matters worse, the
lack of law enforcement personnel is resulting in an unacceptable number
of unsolved crimes. # # #
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