prison
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Federal judge dismisses claim against coordinator of prison training exercise gone wrong
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A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the alleged coordinator of a prison training exercise could not be held liable for excessive force when the simulation took a turn for the worse and employees actually attacked each other. As part of a 2019 hostage training at Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, prison employees punched, shot simulated bullets…
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Judge reluctantly lets appeal proceed in case of prisoner who missed SCOTUS deadline due to library closure
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A federal judge on Wednesday declined to let a jury trial proceed as scheduled and instead opted to let the Denver-based federal appeals court decide if two prison employees have immunity in an incarcerated man’s constitutional rights lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney previously ruled a jury should decide if law librarian Yvette…
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Colorado justices allow sentences of probation after prison, even though prison-plus-probation illegal
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Even though the Colorado Supreme Court ruled five years ago that sentences of prison plus probation are illegal, the justices decided on Monday that judges were permitted to fix those sentences by imposing basically the same punishment. In its 2019 decision of Allman v. People, the Supreme Court ruled that state law treats probation as an…
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Federal judge once again dismisses lawsuit of prison employee offended by DEI training
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A federal judge dismissed a second lawsuit on Monday brought by a former Colorado Department of Corrections employee who was offended by an equity training module and alleged it created a hostile work environment. In 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang dismissed Joshua F. Young’s first lawsuit on the grounds that he failed…
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Federal judge finds no constitutional violation of inmate’s right to religious diet
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A federal judge ended a 5-year-old lawsuit against the state last week by agreeing an incarcerated man had not shown the religious diet served to him in prison violated his rights. Russell M. Boles in 2019 sued the Colorado Department of Corrections, the food service administrator and a rabbi contracted to consult about kosher diets…
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10th Circuit allows lawsuit to proceed against federal prison officials who attacked fellow staff
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The federal appeals court based in Denver agreed on Tuesday that multiple prison employees could be held individually liable for taking a hostage-training exercise too far and, as a trial judge found, engaging “in combat” with other staff members. The question before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit was whether the government…
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Federal judge green-lights former inmate’s disability discrimination claim for trial
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A federal judge last month agreed a jury would decide whether the Colorado Department of Corrections intentionally discriminated against an incarcerated man by imposing restrictions on him after he failed to report to work because of his disability. However, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang observed plaintiff Charles Williams is not entitled to most…
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Federal judge defends $3.5M verdict in disability discrimination case
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A federal judge this month rejected an attempt by the Colorado Department of Corrections to slash a jury’s $3.5 million award to an incarcerated man who missed thousands of meals, defecated on himself and endured physical pain because prison officials did not accommodate his disability in violation of federal law. U.S. District Court Judge S.…
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Federal judge defends $3.5M verdict in disability discrimination case
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A federal judge this month rejected an attempt by the Colorado Department of Corrections to slash a jury’s $3.5 million award to an incarcerated man who missed thousands of meals, defecated on himself and endured physical pain because prison officials did not accommodate his disability in violation of federal law. U.S. District Court Judge S.…
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10th Circuit warns employers against discriminatory DEI programming
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The federal appeals court based in Denver sent up a warning flare to employers on Monday that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts can cross the line into illegal workplace discrimination, deeming certain race-conscious programming “troubling” and the product of “ideological messaging.” At the same time, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for…
