The University of Colorado is examining its relationship with the Colorado Department of Corrections after students and faculty raised concerns about the university’s purchase of furniture made with inmate labor.
Many state entities and universities buy furniture through the Colorado Correctional Industries program, including Colorado State University and Fort Lewis College, said Ken McConnellogue, CU system spokesman. State statute previously required the university and other state agencies to use CCI as an exclusive supplier, but the statute was revised in 2012 so CCI was no longer the only option.
CCI employs 1,800 inmates in 60 voluntary employment programs, which the DOC said are intended to educate and train inmates for the workforce when they leave prison.
“Regarding our relationship with CCI, we’ve been talking about that for several months now as part of our normal sourcing,” McConnellogue said. “Obviously, recent events have kind of brought an additional urgency to that.”
CU Boulder Black Student Alliance members, CU staff and faculty sent a petition to university administration demanding an end to the partnership between the largest university system in the state and the DOC. In response, CU President Mark Kennedy established a working group last week consisting of six CU administrators, a staff member, faculty member and a student to continue the conversation about CU’s partnership with CCI.
The petition comes as waves of reforms around policing and other issues largely impacting people of color are brought to the forefront in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police last month. Thousands of Coloradans took to the streets after Floyd’s death protesting police brutality locally and nationally. The movements have spurred widespread change including state legislation reforming police accountability laws and Denver Public Schools phasing out its partnership with Denver Police Department.
The petition also sought the end of partnerships with the Boulder Police Department, investing 1% of the university’s $1.8 billion endowment in initiatives run by formerly incarcerated people and developing anti-racism and de-escalation training for staff, faculty and campus police.
McConnellogue said CU does not have investments in private prisons and that 6.6% of CU’s endowment is already invested in companies that provide employment for formerly incarcerated people. The university would have an upcoming discussion about ending its relationship with Boulder police, McConnellogue said.
“It has long been documented that police and prisons have targeted Black and brown communities at much higher rates than any other communities in the country,” the petition read. “We as a public university, should also demonstrate leadership and divest from our commitments to these institutions…”
Olivia Gardner, a May CU Boulder graduate, helped start the petition along with CU Boulder Black Student Alliance vice president Ruth Woldemichael. Gardner said she took a CU course in which students frequently met with people incarcerated in Colorado who expressed discomfort in the way they were treated as workers.
CU spends $7 million to $10 million annually on furniture through CCI, McConnellogue said.
Inmates in CCI earn an average of $4.50 a day, said Annie Skinner, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections.
“Colorado Correctional Industries is currently undergoing a business reorganization process in order to ensure that they can continue to provide opportunities for inmates to learn marketable job skills that will help them better transition back into the community,” Skinner said. “This year, CCI is committed to raising inmate pay in as many areas of our business as possible. We have already begun to have initial conversations with CU Boulder regarding inmate pay and we look forward to continuing those conversations.”
McConnellogue said CU’s main priority in the working group is to ensure the relationship with CCI is beneficial for the university and supplier.
“Certainly issues of wages, working conditions and rehabilitation factor into the discussion,” McConnellogue said. “We’re looking to engage CCI as part of that. We’ve been a valued customer, and we’re believers in what they do. We’re a big buyer… a lot of the big players able to meet the needs of organizations our size are in India or China, so that’s something we have to consider.”