As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps through Colorado and beyond, Denver is actively working to decrease the inmate population in its jails, where social distancing is nearly impossible and contagious disease can spread like wildfire.

Since the start of March, the average daily populations in Denver’s two jails have, together, decreased by 33%, according to Mayor Michael Hancock’s office.

Normally, the Denver Sheriff Department averages around 2,000 inmates in the Downtown Detention Center and the Denver County Jail combined.

As of April 2, the two jails averaged a total population of 1,210 inmates, or 39.5% fewer inmates than usual.  

“We continue to work to reduce the population in both jails. It is a team effort, which includes the Denver Sheriff Department, Denver Police Department, Denver County Court, Denver District Court and the District Attorney’s Office,” said Heather Burke, a spokeswoman for Denver’s Office of Emergency Management. “We are reviewing our jail population on a regular basis and will work with these partners to determine release eligibility; each situation is unique and reviewed individually.

“Additionally, we continue to work closely with our community resource partners to ensure those being released, and those who have a need to be connected with re-entry services, are receiving that opportunity when identified and they have a place to go,” Burke said.

Most of the reduction efforts have taken place in the Downtown Detention Center, which lowered its inmate population in the first 25 days of March by nearly a quarter. The county jail, however, reduced its population in the same time period by only about 11%.

On March 24, Gov. Jared Polis issued guidance for all local law enforcement, including sheriffs, to safely decrease the incarceration population.

“Reducing the numbers of those arrested or incarcerated is vital to our efforts to limit and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our communities, detention centers, and prisons,” Polis wrote in his letter.

In line with those guidelines, Denver law enforcement is currently limiting the number of arrests for low-level, non-violent property and drug crimes and is issuing summons instead.

The Denver District Attorney’s Office is actively working with defense attorneys and the courts to release some inmates who are at high-risk of COVID-19, including pregnant women and people age 60 and older, and who have “little time left on their sentences,” the office said in a March 19 news release. The office is also leveraging in-home detention in “appropriate” circumstances.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado sent a letter on Thursday to Colorado sheriffs, calling for them to “immediately and safely” decrease the number of prisoners so that “all inmates and correctional staff can practice social distancing, including during sleeping hours.”  

Without a substantial decrease in the state’s jails and prisons, “COVID-19 will turn incarceration into a death sentence for some Colorado prisoners,” ACLU of Colorado spokeswoman Rebecca Wallace said in a statement.

“This is a particularly cruel outcome given that most of the people incarcerated in our jails are pre-trial, have not been convicted of a crime, and remain behind bars only because they cannot afford the money bond to get out,” Wallace said.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the most recent data as of April 2.