department of corrections
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Dean Williams resigns as executive director of Colorado’s Department of Corrections
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Dean Williams, who pushed to reform Colorado’s prisons as executive director of the state’s Department of Corrections, announced in an email to employees that he is resigning from his position. “I have made the difficult decision to transition out of my role as Executive Director as of December 2, 2022,” Williams said in the email.…
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Federal judge finds no merit to inmates’ challenge of prison work program
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A federal judge has concluded two Colorado inmates failed to plausibly allege the state’s Department of Corrections violated their rights through its prison work program, which generally requires detainees to participate or lose privileges. Although the plaintiffs repeatedly referenced Colorado voters’ 2018 decision to amend the state constitution to eliminate slavery and involuntary servitude in…
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Judge allows inmate’s lawsuit to proceed against prison officials for failure to protect, retaliation
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A federal judge has allowed an inmate to pursue his lawsuit against Colorado prison officials based on allegations they failed to protect him, instructed other prisoners to fight him and retaliated against him for filing grievances. Although the defendants attempted to characterize Terance DeJuan Wilson as a “frequent filer” who regularly pursues scattershot claims in…
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10th Circuit finds judge mistakenly tossed inmate’s disability lawsuit
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A federal judge was wrong to dismiss as frivolous a Colorado inmate’s lawsuit alleging prison officials discriminated against him on the basis of his disability, the federal appeals court based in Denver has ruled. Because the U.S. Supreme Court recognized more than two decades ago that the Americans with Disabilities Act “unambiguously” covers state detainees,…
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Justices agree with state, inmate on parole eligibility calculation
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The state’s Supreme Court justices agreed with both the Colorado Department of Corrections and inmate Nathanael E. Owens on Tuesday that the government should calculate Owens’ earliest parole date using a “hybrid” method accounting for the varying eligibility protocols in his three consecutive sentences. The justices cleared up in Owens’ appeal any lingering confusion from…
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Justices asked to endorse hybrid model of calculating parole eligibility
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In an unusual display of unity before the Colorado Supreme Court, both the government and inmate Nathanael E. Owens agreed that he was entitled to have his parole eligibility date calculated in a way that would move his potential release date one year earlier. However, Owens asked the justices to go further and order the Colorado…
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America’s 1st statewide prison radio launches in Colorado, seeks to build bridges: ‘Feeling human again’
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America’s first statewide prison radio station, Inside Wire, launched March 1 in Limon Correctional Facility’s education and library building. A project of the University of Denver’s Prison Arts Initiative, Inside Wire: Colorado Prison Radio originally was envisioned as a first-of-its kind project that could help build trust and connections among the more than 14,000 incarcerated…
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Stapleton wins endorsements from Republican district attorneys, sheriffs
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All but two of Colorado’s Republican district attorneys are endorsing GOP gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton, his campaign said. In addition, 18 elected Republican sheriffs and Nick Rogers, president of the Denver police union, are part of a coalition of law enforcement and public safety officials unveiled by the Stapleton campaign. The two-term state treasurer is…
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Sessions’s prison order doesn’t mean a boom for Fremont County
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Will there be more inmates headed for the state’s prison capital? Since May, people have been saying it’s possible under a Trump administration that’s vowing to get tougher on crime. This week in the print edition of the Economist, Cañon City councilman Frank Jaquez said area prisons, a mix of federal and state, aren’t filled…
