Prison News | Colorado

• Education & Rehabilitation
• Executions, Death Row, & the Death Penalty
• Gangs in Prison
• Health & Medical Treatment
• Prison Classification, Placement, and Release
• Prison Conditions & Corruption
• Prison Life & Prison Culture
• Riots, Lockdowns & Escapes
• Suicides in Prison
• Workplace & Industry News and Science & Tech

Education & Rehabilitation

• Website designed to help former Colo. inmates find jobs, integrate into society
  
  DENVER (AP) ... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Tuesday, July 2, 2013
  
  
• BEYOND BARS Doing the time, again
  
  Return-to-prison rate for Colorado parolees is third-highest in nation. For parolees who ended up locked in a county jail somewhere in Colorado this spring, the average time from prison gates to behind cell bars again was only eight months.... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Sunday, June 2, 2013
  
  

Executions, Death Row & the Death Penalty

• Life sentence for man convicted of killing 3 in Denver
  
  DENVER (AP) — A Colorado man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing three homeless people in a Denver parking lot last year.... [ more ]
  Yahoo News, Friday, July 26, 2019
  
  
• Colorado man sentenced to five years in prison in child pornography case
  
  BISMARCK, N.D. - A judge ordered a Colorado man to serve five years in prison Tuesday following an investigation into... [ more ]
  Your News Leader, Tuesday, February 12, 2019
  
  

Gangs in Prison

• Rollin 60s Busts: See 25 Aurora Indictees Allegedly Tied to Notorious L.A. Street Gang
  
  Yesterday morning, members of the Aurora Police Department and law-enforcement agencies throughout the metro area busted two dozen men and women as part of what's described as a two-year investigation into the activities of the Rollin 60s, an Aurora street gang whose lineage can be traced back to Los Angeles. Continue to see those taken into custody -- and the one person who's thus far eluded authorities -- and get details about the allegations that led to a 73-count indictment also on view below.... [ more ]
  WestWorld, Thursday, October 23, 2014
  
  
• Widow of slain Colorado prisons chief may testify
  
  DENVER (AP) — The widow of Colorado's slain prisons director could speak publicly for the first time about her husband's death during a sentencing hearing scheduled for a woman who gave his presumed killer the murder weapon.... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Monday, March 3, 2014
  
  
• Colorado prison chief widow won't testify
  
  DENVER — The widow of Colorado's slain prisons director will not testify about her husband's death during a sentencing hearing for woman who gave his presumed killer the murder weapon.... [ more ]
  Mail Online, Monday, March 3, 2014
  
  
• Prosecutors say neo-Nazi killed Colorado prison chief, pizza delivery man
  
  (Reuters) - A neo-Nazi parolee murdered Colorado's prison chief last year after forcing a pizza delivery man whom he kidnapped and later killed to record a message denouncing the prison system, federal prosecutors said in a court filing released on Monday.... [ more ]
  Reuters, Monday, February 10, 2014
  
  
• Prison gang member pleads guilty in connection to Colorado Springs police chase
  
  A white supremacist gang member arrested in the wake of the slaying of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements has pleaded guilty to unrelated charges.... [ more ]
  The Gazette, Friday, September 20, 2013
  
  
• Evan Ebel may have killed prisons chief to repay 211 Crew favor
  
  The founder of the 211 Crew protected Evan Ebel after a rival prison gang targeted the white supremacist soldier for violence at Sterling Correctional Facility. That left the young gang member with a debt authorities suspect he repaid by killing prisons chief Tom Clements.... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Monday, August 26, 2013
  
  
• Evan Ebel kept ties to prison gang after release
  
  DENVER - Evan Ebel kept ties with imprisoned members of the white supremacist 211 Crew in the weeks before police say he killed Colorado's corrections chief, documents obtained by The Denver Post show... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Saturday, August 10, 2013
  
  
• Website designed to help former Colo. inmates find jobs, integrate into society
  
  DENVER (AP) ... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Tuesday, July 2, 2013
  
  
• Inmate who escaped Florence prison camp, spent 2 decades on the lam is resentenced
  
  PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - An inmate who escaped from a federal prison camp in Florence and spent almost two decades on the run before being caught has been resentenced...... [ more ]
  The Pueblo Chieftain, Sunday, June 30, 2013
  
  
• Be on guard: Use 'correctional officer'
  
  As corrections professionals, we rely on journalists to credibly and accurately inform the public about our field...... [ more ]
  Greeley Tribune , Thursday, June 7, 2007
  
  
• Suspect in arson has long record
  
  Crimes span from Chicago to Springs, sometimes overlap... [ more ]
  Colorado Springs Gazette, Saturday, January 20, 2007
  
  

Health & Medical Treatment

Prison Classification, Placement, & Release

• Colorado agrees to pay inmate $500,000 for alleged prison beating
  
  DenverColorado has agreed to pay $500,000 to a convicted murderer serving a life sentence who allegedly suffered a prison beating at the hands of a guard, an incident a federal jury initially awarded him a record $6 million over. The award was rescinded in a second trial.... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Monday, January 6, 2020
  
  
• Colorado prison chief seeks reform of U.S. solitary confinement practices
  
  DENVER, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Colorado's prisons chief wants nationwide reform of solitary confinement practices after he

  spent 20 hours in an isolation cell to experience conditions firsthand, and has already begun making changes in his own state, a spokesman said on Friday.

  ... [ more ]

  Reuters, Friday, February 21, 2014
  
  
• DOC chief: Parole supervision needs improvement
  
  DENVER (AP) — The head of Colorado's correctional system told lawmakers Friday his department needs to improve the monitoring of parolees, and that officials are considering using cellphones instead of electronic bracelets to do so.... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Friday, September 27, 2013
  
  
• Colorado Department of Corrections trucking in water to Sterling Correctional Facility
  
  STERLING, Colo. — The Colorado Department of Corrections is trucking water 200 miles from its dairy in Canon City to the Sterling Correctional Facility, after the city's water supply was found to have exceeded federal limits for uranium.... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Friday, August 23, 2013
  
  
• Colo. lawmakers to examine state parole program after former inmates abscond
  
  DENVER (AP) - Colorado lawmakers will question prison officials about how they're supervising inmates on parole in light of cases where former inmates slipped out of monitoring bracelets, including a man suspected of killing the state's ...... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Wednesday, July 24, 2013
  
  
• Alamosa County finds outsourcing prisoners less expensive
  
  ALAMOSA, Colo. (AP) - Alamosa County Sheriff Dave Stong said rising jail costs are making it cheaper to send prisoners to other facilities because the county is getting a "cut-rate deal," based on the rising number of county prisoners.... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Tuesday, July 9, 2013
  
  
• Study says Colorado prisons at capacity
  
  Independent report finds that the state is "where it needs to be" in terms of prison facilities, with a small surplus of beds. An independent prison utilization study released Thursday found that no Colorado facilities at this time need to ...... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Friday, June 21, 2013
  
  
• Colorado Department of Corrections released killer by mistake in 2002
  
  DENVER (AP) - The Colorado Department of Corrections revised its procedures after a white supremacist killer who was supposed to be serving life in prison was released by mistake in 2002, another in a continuing list of problems for the ...... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Wednesday, June 12, 2013
  
  

Prison Conditions & Corruption

• After 20 Hours in Solitary, Colorado�s Prisons Chief Wins Praise
  
  CAÑON CITY, Colo. — The cells where inmates are kept in solitary confinement at the state penitentiary here are 7-by-13-foot boxes arranged in semicircular tiers. When the warden, Travis Trani, heard that Rick Raemisch, Colorado’s new chief of corrections, intended to spend a night in one of them, he had two reactions.... [ more ]
  New York Times, Sunday, March 16, 2014
  
  
• ACLU: Nearly 90 percent of mentally ill inmates in Colorado are held in solitary confinement
  
  DENVER (AP) - Nearly 90 percent of the seriously mentally ill inmates in Colorado state prisons were in solitary confinement this year, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday.... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Tuesday, July 23, 2013
  
  

Prison Life & Culture

• Woman who gave birth alone in Denver jail cell sues city authorities
  
  A woman who gave birth alone in her jail cell in Denver is suing the city after deputies and nurses allegedly ignored her pleas for help during about five hours of labour... [ more ]
  theguardian.com, Friday, August 30, 2019
  
  
• Colorado prisons chief orders Sterling review after 6th inmate killed
  
  Colorado prison chief Rick Raemisch has ordered a review of the circumstances leading to the murders of six inmates at Sterling Correctional Facility over the past four years, officials said Wednesday. Cody Gray, who was serving a life prison sentence for a sex offense, was the latest casualty. He killed Monday morning in a general population cell, said Adrienne Jacobson, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections. The review will consider whether mistakes have been made in the classifications of inmates, which dictates whether they are placed in secure prisons. “It’s a high number,” Jacobson said, referring to the six murders. “M... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Wednesday, August 13, 2014
  
  
• Supermax killer pleads guilty, gets life
  
  Gary Watland, 51, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court, interrupting jury selection proceedings. Judge John L. Kane sentenced Watland to life without parole without comment.... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Thursday, February 6, 2014
  
  
• Boulder County Jail spike in female inmates pushes some into another jail
  
  BOULDER -- A toilet shared by three women -- in a jail cell meant for one -- is affixed to a wall just a couple feet from where Stephanie Wellington sleeps.... [ more ]
  U-Wire, Sunday, August 18, 2013
  
  

Riots, Lockdowns & Escapes

• 15 months after suspect named in hammer attacks, his extradition to Colorado still on hold
  
  COLORADO, USA — Fifteen months after a DNA hit identified a suspect in a series of horrific 1984 hammer attacks in the Denver area, the man remains in Nevada – his extradition to Colorado stalled by a series of delays sought by his attorney and inaction by that state’s highest court.... [ more ]
  9News, Tuesday, November 19, 2019
  
  
• Inmate who escaped Florence prison camp, spent 2 decades on the lam is resentenced
  
  PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - An inmate who escaped from a federal prison camp in Florence and spent almost two decades on the run before being caught has been resentenced...... [ more ]
  The Pueblo Chieftain, Sunday, June 30, 2013
  
  

Suicides in Prison

• Boulder County Jail inmate hangs himself in cell
  
  A 40-year-old man facing criminal impersonation and failure to pay charges appears to have committed suicide in his Boulder County Jail cell on Saturday night, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.... [ more ]
  Daily Camera, Sunday, June 30, 2013
  
  

Workplace & Industry News, and Science & Tech News

• Colorado corrections workers dispute implications they are overpaid
  
  PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - A state employees union is disputing suggestions that 4,000 Department of Corrections workers are overpaid. A July 19 letter signed by all 17 Senate Republican lawmakers says the state's latest salary plan wrongly ...... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Thursday, July 25, 2013
  
  
• Ex-parole chief on hit list ; Tim Hand, who was fired from his job, says 211 Crew prison gang gave Ebel orders targeting him, two others
  
  The parolee blamed for killing corrections chief Tom Clements was working from a hit list that also named parole director Tim Hand and two other corrections employees, Hand said Thursday.... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Friday, June 14, 2013
  
  
• Colorado judges correct 124 sentences amid massive audit prompted by prison chief's slaying
  
  DENVER (AP) - Colorado judges have corrected the sentences of 124 inmates or parolees after one ex-prisoner was inadvertently released early and was then allegedly involved in the slaying of the state prisons chief.... [ more ]
  Associated Press, Thursday, June 6, 2013
  
  
• Be on guard: Use 'correctional officer'
  
  As corrections professionals, we rely on journalists to credibly and accurately inform the public about our field...... [ more ]
  Greeley Tribune , Thursday, June 7, 2007