Colver expresses concern about prisons plan

WASILLA — Alaska Rep. Jim Colver (R-Sutton) is concerned about who might be getting out of local prisons.

During a wide-ranging interview with the Frontiersman editorial board, Colver touched on expectations for an upcoming special session of the Legislature on a natural gas pipeline (soon, but not soon enough to warrant a special session), concerns about the state budget and staff accountability among legislators. He also touted a planned forum on the Department of Corrections set for 10 a.m. Oct. 20 at the Mat-Su Borough Assembly Chambers.

Corrections officials are considering closing the Palmer Correctional Center in a two-step process next year. Inmates in the facility’s minimum security wing would likely be moved to halfway houses, or go on electronic monitoring. Inmates in the facility’s medium security wing would head to Goose Creek Correctional, or potentially be moved out-of-state, Colver said.

Corrections officials told the Legislature’s Department of Public Safety finance subcommittee they were planning the possible closure of Palmer Correctional Center near Sutton. Figures offered by Corrections Commissioner Ronald F. Taylor in February show Palmer Correctional costs less than Goose Creek ($123 for Palmer versus $142 for Goose Creek). The cheapest option would be electronic monitoring at an estimated $24 per person, but Colver says he has concerns about the potential safety.

“What really caught my ear was electronic monitoring,” he said.

Colver cited the case of Josh Beebe, accused of shooting Joshua Jensen, 28, in Meadow Lakes on June 17 and of murdering Christopher Seaman, 23, whose remains were discovered in Houston the morning of June 23. Alaska State Troopers arrested Beebe that day on unrelated charges. Beebe then cut the ankle bracelet holding his monitoring device and fled the next day. Beebe was on the lam for about a week before being recaptured on July 7. None of Beebe’s known offenses took place between his escape and his arrest, and no additional charges have been added since Aug. 14.

Even so, price shouldn’t trump safety, Colver said.

“I’m more concerned about the risk assessment,” he said. “My thinking is: we’ve got a lot of people incarcerated that are drug addicts, methamphetamine, heroin. Chances are they’re going to go back and get out and re-offend.”

Colver also said bad timing had upped the price tag for airfare and hotels for a Seattle conference this fall with state legislators from across the country, and said the conference had occurred at the same time as flooding in his district and meetings with Gov. Bill Walker, which forced changes to his airfare. He also said he’d paid some of the money back.

“We get invited to these things in the wintertime, and you put in your travel request to the Speaker,” he said. “Mine didn’t come back ‘til June. By then all the conference rates are gone, and so if you’re going to be in a conference, I wanted to be downtown where I could just walk to the conference center. Traffic is a nightmare.”

Colver said he’s since paid the difference between the $386.17 per night amount for the Roosevelt Hotel, and discounted rates offered by the conference, which ranged between $184 and $289.

“I had done it before your editorial came out, but when the article was written by (Alaska Dispatch News), they linked the first spreadsheet that came out,” he said. “Then I reimbursed the state for the difference between my hotel and what the conference rate was. But it always had an asterisk explaining the travel cost and changes.”

The summit serves as a form of cross-pollination for legislators who face national issues. Colver specifically cited marijuana legalization and discussions with Colorado as one example of where legislators benefitted from the trip south.

Contact Reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.