By Jenny Deam
Los Angeles Times
CANON CITY, Colo. — Sometimes if you build it, they don’t come.
When construction was first planned in 2003 for a $184-million high-security facility within the Colorado prison complex in Canon City, the number of inmates being locked up in the state was increasing at what officials considered an alarming rate.
But something happened between the first shovelful of dirt in 2007 and the final paintbrush stroke in 2010: The Colorado prison population started decreasing, first a little and then a lot.
So much, in fact, that officials announced in March that the new facility — open just 18 months and two-thirds empty — would close next year.
Full story: Decline in inmates prompts closure of new Colorado prison