The Pueblo County Board of Commissioners is considering changes in the way it awards contracts to companies that electronically monitor defendants awaiting trial.
Al Gurule, executive director of Pueblo Community Corrections, told the board at its work session Thursday that his company is one of six providers of the service in Pueblo.
He said the market has become so flooded with companies trying to provide monitoring that it's getting to the point where it's no longer economically feasible to stay in the business.
"The problem is that it seems like there's been a policy with the county that anybody who applies for this service is given a piece of the contract," Gurule said. "We're barely breaking even on this program."
County Community Corrections Director Millie Carlo told the board that people who have been convicted and are on monitoring devices are required to pay for the service themselves, so the issue is predominantly with those who are awaiting their court date.
Carlo said the dilution in the market is certainly a factor, but the county jail's new annex may also be contributing to the issue.
"Since the jail opened the annex, there's been a drop-off, especially on the post-sentence inmates," Carlo said.
Gurule suggested rewriting the bid process for the contracts to give local companies like his and Minnequa Corrections on the South Side preference in the process.
Gurule noted that recent monitoring contracts have been granted to national companies based outside of Pueblo. He argued that those companies aren't as concerned with their bottom lines in Pueblo because they're making enough money elsewhere to absorb the cost here.
"They just want to get into the Pueblo market," he said.
Carlo also suggested that judges who opt for electronic monitoring could choose which company they thought was doing the best job, that the market would then take care of itself.
But putting such a plan into place will require further discussion with the board and district court judges.
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