Boulder County’s long-anticipated alternative sentencing facility is officially open for business. Current and former elected officials gathered Friday, October 24 for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Joe Pelle Center (JPC), located at 3260 Airport Road in Boulder, next to the Boulder County Jail.

The facility is named for former Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle, who retired in 2023 after 20 years in office. Pelle pushed for the facility as an alternative to privately owned and operated halfway houses.

“When I learned about alternative sentencing facilities, I couldn’t believe a progressive, intelligent community like Boulder County didn’t have one,” Pelle said in a County press release. “I am grateful to be able to hand down to my children and grandchildren the legacy of a terrific facility that bears my name.”

The 55,626-square-foot facility will eventually have the capacity for up to 252 residents. Currently, there are 204 beds, and people sentenced to work release and community corrections will begin moving in this December, with full capacity expected to be reached by February, according to reporting from the Daily Camera. 

A 48-bed expansion for residential mental health treatment is expected to be complete by 2027. The center has been open since August for day reporting, electronic monitoring and substance abuse monitoring services.

“I am hopeful the new facility will help address the challenges we face at the Boulder County Jail and will provide people the support and resources they need to successfully re-enter our community,” Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said in the release.

Overcrowding has been an ongoing issue at the jail. Built in 1988 with capacity for 287, the jail routinely holds more than 400, with people sleeping on the gymnasium floor. An expansion of the jail itself was completed in tandem with construction of the alternative sentencing facility.

Both projects were funded by a five-year sales tax approved by voters in 2018. Initially estimated to bring in $50 million, the tax ultimately generated $80 million; $38 million was used to construct the JPC and $38 million for the jail expansion.

As the County sought to address jail overcrowding and long waitlists for work release, it also sought to move away from private halfway houses after a number of controversies. 

In 2013, a man shot himself while at a Boulder halfway house when deputies arrived to take him back to jail. State officials noted multiple violations at two Boulder County halfway houses from 2015 to 2018, including incidents of sexual assault, escape and new arrests. Another man died by suicide at a Boulder halfway house in 2020.

Like the halfway houses, the Joe Pelle Center will operate as a minimum-security facility. Doors will not be locked, but non-police personnel will be on-site 24 hours a day.

According to county officials, programming at the JPC will include “residential and non-residential mental health and substance use disorder treatment; trauma-informed and gender responsive care; diverse, equitable and culturally relevant service; assistance securing meaningful employment and/or education; [and] engagement with individuals with lived experience, peer support services and community supports.”

Residents at Joe Pelle Center will be referred to as clients, not inmates, the Daily Camera reported.

Other county news:

• Boulder County recently distributed $3.9 million in grants to 11 organizations serving people with disabilities. One of the recipients was Eldora-based Ignite Adaptive Sports, which received $25,000 to further its mission of providing adaptive ski instruction and experiences for people of all abilities.
  
  The grants are funded by a 2002 property tax intended to fill programming funding gaps for people with intellectual and physical disabilities.

• The County is seeing feedback on its first countywide public transportation plan, Linking Boulder County. An online survey will be open until Thursday, November 20, with a virtual open house planned from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, November 6. Information will also be available in person at the Harvest Flavors Celebration in downtown Longmont, taking place Saturday, November 20 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Register for the November 6 transit open house: fehrandpeers.zoom.us/meeting/register/CisekyWLTaKsukhOy7Fx8Q#/registration

Take the Boulder County transit survey before November 20: fp.mysocialpinpoint.com/linking-boulder-county/transit-needs-survey