This spring, the Rifle Correctional Center once again finds itself in the fiscal crosshairs at the Capitol.

Closing the 192-bed minimum security facility was recommended by state budget analysts as a cost-cutting measure. Closing the facility is estimated to save the state roughly $10 million and could be justified due to declining inmate population and similar facilities in Delta or Sterling.

Sterling is not even on our side of the state, and we can’t speak to the facility in Delta, but we know without a doubt the importance of the facility in Rifle.

It supports over 50 jobs locally and offers a vital rehabilitation path for inmates to successfully transition from prison back into communities. It also is not an island unto itself — many people and organizations throughout Garfield County have worked together to create peer support groups both within the correctional facility and outside.

The facility being a lower level incarceration and having a higher need for integration, access and support needs, makes it well placed in this area as we have so many support services. 

Discovery Cafe, founded by Gabe Cohen, in 2021 has been a vital resource for creating support and community for individuals. Since its founding, Discovery Cafe has grown to serve people at the Rifle Correctional Center and Garfield County Jail as well as community sites in Rifle, Glenwood Springs and more. It has provided job opportunities for those previously convicted of a crime, but offers service to people from all walks of life: those struggling with addiction, PTSD or other trauma. 

Looking at just numbers might lead some state analysts to say closing Rifle Correctional Center is the right thing to do, but those numbers are entirely devoid of the support community we’ve built in Garfield County. Such community doesn’t happen overnight nor does it happen everywhere. We’re blessed to have it here, and we would hate to see Colorado throw cold water on that by closing the correctional center.

The good news is that many of our elected officials have already voiced their support for keeping Rifle Correctional Facility open. Mayor Sean Strode and the Rifle City Council; Garfield County Commissioners Perry Will, Tom Jankovsky and Mike Samson; Rep. Liz Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs; Sen. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose and Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon have all voiced support for the facility. We greatly appreciate their advocacy for the institution and hope lawmakers will listen to reason this spring and keep the Rifle Correctional Facility open.

The Post Independent editorial board members are Publisher Peter Baumann and community representatives John Stroud, Mark Fishbein and Amy Connerton.