Lawmakers petition Ritter to rethink Gitmo prisoners in CO

Face The State Staff Report

Upon hearing Gov. Bill Ritter supports bringing terror suspects from the recently closed Guantanamo Bay prison to the Colorado supermax prison in Florence, leading Republican lawmakers are circulating a petition in opposition.

Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, and Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, spearheaded the petition that was signed by most Republican lawmakers and even some Democrats, including Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus.

"I don't really think it would be appropriate to mix these terrorists with the current prison population,” said Kester in a release. “They're going to be in our prisons recruiting inmates to kill American servicemen and civilians. Besides, there simply isn't enough room. We don't have the beds or staffing to accommodate that many new prisoners."

Notable prisoners in the Supermax currently include September 11th conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Eric Robert Rudolph, the terrorist responsible for the 1996 Olympic Park bombing.

Though her name was absent from the petition, Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo, told the Rocky Mountain News that Supermax has been understaffed for years, and she advocated sending the Gitmo terrorists somewhere else. Kester, whose southeastern district contains more prisons than any other legislative district in the nation, also emphasized the strain more high profile prisoners would put on the nation's prison system.

Members of Colorado's Congressional delegation also came out against moving the detainees here, including Republican Doug Lamborn, whose district includes Florence.