Bill to open DYC records to public scrutiny likely to clear Colorado Senate

From The Gazette (Colorado Springs): A bill that would open up Division of Youth Corrections’ records for public scrutiny passed the Senate preliminarily Monday on the consent calendar with no discussion and no opposition.

Two Colorado Springs lawmakers – Sen. Kent Lambert, a Republican, and Rep. Pete Lee, a Democrat – brought the bill after spending last summer dealing with complaints and concerns about operations at Spring Creek Youth Services Center in Colorado Springs.

House Bill 1131 would open up incident reports at all of the youth detention centers across the state to the public.

The Gazette reported last year that the Division of Youth Corrections was exempt from the state’s open records act. The agency denied the newspaper access to records that detail fights, assaults and rapes at the facilities. The request for records asked that the names and identities of juveniles be redacted.

The bill passed the House unanimously. It was amended in a Senate committee, so will have to go back to the House if it passes the Senate on third reading this week.

Lambert said the amendments changed the fees that could be charged for compiling the records to be in line with the state’s open records act, and made the bill retroactive to January 2014.

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