Prison officials say prisoners aren't sent to CSP based on the nature of their crimes but as punishment for misbehavior while in the correctional system. The threat of getting sent to CSP has lowered the rate of assaults throughout the system, they claim. It's a management tool for us. But Christie Donner of the Rocky Mountain Peace Center in Boulder, who administered the center's study of CSP inmates, views the female presence there as a glaring example of the arbitrariness of the state's placement policies. Opened in 1993, CSP is one of the most restrictive high-security prisons in the country.
Exercise is a solitary affair, in a narrow room with a small vent for fresh air.
But few, if any, states have followed Colorado's lead in reserving a block of cells in a supermax prison for women. It's very unusual. But CSP is a very unusual place, even by corrections standards. According to McDonough, the shift in CSP's mission had little effect on its design, although staffing levels did increase. Each inmate's case is considered at an individual hearing and reviewed monthly.