In early 2023, the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) recruited dozens of workers from Puerto Rico to staff the desperately understaffed Buena Vista prison. These workers were recruited with the promise of competitive pay, as well as housing and transportation. However, when they arrived they found that they were to be housed in the prison itself. A common area for prisoners had been converted into a living space, with cubicles used to divide the room into sleeping spaces.
“Initially, I didn’t fault CDOC for filling those vacancies. But once you bring people into your employ, you have a responsibility to treat them like human beings,” asserted Hilary Glasgow, executive director of Colorado WINS. “You have to have somewhere for your people to live. You cannot throw them in a building, set up with cubicles like dorms, and have them wash dishes in a mop sink and cook meals in a microwave. I call that exploitation.”
For over a year, that group of Puertorriqueños employed at Buena Vista Correctional Facility have been fighting to receive equitable treatment. They were brought to the facility by exploitative hiring practices and false promises, only to face horrible working conditions, discrimination, and atrocious living standards.
In response they have organized with Colorado WINS, the state employees’ union, to advocate for better treatment.
However, their attempts to organize with their union and make their protests heard were met with borderline retaliatory behavior. It has reached the point that although several were willing to provide information about their struggles to La Cucaracha, none were willing to be directly quoted or to give their names.
The first cohort of Puertorriqueño workers were recruited in early 2023, primarily from among young men who were already working in law enforcement or at prisons and correctional centers in Puerto Rico. They were sought out by a recruiter, who advertised high pay, generous overtime, and that the CDOC would provide housing and transportation. The recruiter also promised plenty of time off to return to Puerto Rico and visit family, to help alleviate the concerns of young men moving almost three thousand miles away from home.
Upon arrival the new recruits quickly found the living quarters they were promised were nearly as bad as those of the prisoners—and in fact, they would be housed behind the prison fence, separated from the yard only by a padlocked door.
Once it became clear that conditions would not improve, and more employees would be brought in on false promises to face exploitation, a organized.
The quarters they were provided was an unused offender unit, which had not been cleaned in preparation for their arrival. Their sleeping locations were cots separated by repurposed office cubicles. There was no full kitchen, only a counter with a handful of cooking appliances and a small fridge for communal use. The transportation they were offered came in the form of a single car and a single prisoner transport van. All of these accommodations would have been insufficient for two or three employees—but they were expected to suffice for eighteen Puertorriqueño recruits.
Despite their initial conditions, the Puertorriqueño recruits kept their heads down and worked. However, unbelievably, their work environment managed to worsen as time went on.
They found themselves working long shifts—12 hours straight—more often, and more frequently they would be assigned long shifts back to back. Often they would be informed of these double shifts less than 30 minutes before they expected to go “home” to their cubicle dormitory, and sometimes they only learned of them when their expected relief failed to show up and they inquired with their supervisor.
They were also instructed not to speak Spanish while on duty, apparently out of concerns that they would have clandestine conversations with hispanohablante prisoners which the anglophone management wouldn’t be privy to.
“They didn’t like that they were speaking Spanish to the incarcerated, because apparently the English speaking staff was thinking they were plotting or something,” said Hilary Glasgow.
She went on to explain that the Puertorriqueños faced other instances of discrimination, both from their coworkers and the community at Buena Vista.
“There’s a lot of racism,” explained Glasgow. “Someone from Buena Vista called [a news station] to complain that people were coming from Mexico to take their jobs. And they disclosed to me that call came from an employee at the prison.”
In time, two more cohorts were recruited from Puerto Rico, bringing numbers up to about forty, of which some were fired within the first month. A smaller number of additional recruits were brought on from other countries, including South Africa and Afghanistan.
Once it became clear that conditions would not improve, and more employees would be brought in on false promises to face exploitation, a group of the Puertorriqueños organized. But when they first began to protest their treatment, those who did were told not to speak their minds as it would inspire other workers to speak out as well.
“There’s blowback across DOC for anything that anyone does that isn’t directly sanctioned by wardens,” said Glasgow. “The wardens have a lot of bark, but they know it’s a lot harder coming after [union members]. Still, some of [the organizers] were fired. Some of them left out of fear, too.”
The efforts of the Puertorriqueños and Colorado WINS led to an internal investigation by CDOC, which began in August 2023. However, in January 2024 the investigation ended and a report was made that CDOC found that claims of discrimination were unfounded. Union leadership was quick to disagree with this report, and organization efforts have continued.
In the meantime, the Puertorriqueños and their coworkers continue to face difficult working and living conditions.
Many of the Puertorriqueños from all three cohorts have found places to live off-site. Due to the very high cost of living in Buena Vista, this is made possible by a housing stipend from the state and multiple workers rooming together.
“A housing stipend only covers so much. But why I don’t like stipends is that they’re temporary,” said Glasgow. “When the stipend gets taken away, it feels like a pay cut. And really, what does the employer expect to happen? Their rent isn’t going to go down.”
She went on to explain that the high rents in Buena Vista compared to the relatively low wages was a major contributing factor in why there was such a major staffing problem at Buena Vista Correctional Facility in the first place. Potential employees in-state were unwilling to live in Buena Vista on such a low salary.
“[The state] wouldn’t have to provide a housing stipend if the pay was adequate,” explained Glasgow. “It’s really a sort of Gordian knot.”
The workers at Buena Vista and Colorado WINS continue to advocate for the rights of all of the new employees at the facility. While they continue to face pushback from the state and the community, this is a fight that many of them are all too used to, and don’t plan to give up on.
