Tenth Circuit Ruling Paves Way for $2.7 Million Settlement for Intellectually Disabled Jail Detainee Raped by Sheriff by David Reutter In a settlement reached on December 20, 2024, Colorado’s Sedgwick County agreed to pay $2.7 million to Peatinna Biggs, an intellectually disabled former detainee in the county jail who was …
$1.875 Million Partial Settlement for Colorado Detainee’s Death from Untreated Alcohol Withdrawal; Claims Against Wellpath Pending Bankruptcy by Chuck Sharman On November 19, 2024, the Board of County Commissioners of Colorado’s El Paso County approved an agreement with the Estate of Daniel James Murray, a detainee who died at the …
Colorado Passes New Law to Expand Prisoner Visitation Rights by In early May 2025, the Colorado Legislature approved a bill that would increase visitation rights for incarcerated people. Signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, the bill, HB25-1013, ends a policy in the state in which “inmate social visiting” …
A Colorado Jail Has Banned In-Person Visits Since the Pandemic by For more than four years, beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Boulder County Jail in Boulder, Colorado has remained closed to in-person visitations. Although prisons have returned to allowing visitors, many jails have yet to re-instate in-person access. At …
News in Brief by Alabama: Kadarius Shermaine Todd, 28, a new guard still on probationary status at the Madison County Jail, was fired on April 4, 2025, after allegedly attempting to smuggle contraband into the lockup. He was apprehended upon arrival to meet a contact with a package containing Suboxone, …
Retired California Prison Guard Killed in Colorado Jail by A complaint filed in federal court for the District of Colorado on March 26, 2025, accused guards at the Huerfano County Jail of needlessly assaulting a detainee suffering a mental health crisis and then ignoring him for another week as he …
$500,000 for Colorado Detainee Dropped On His Face by Jailers by Douglas Ankney In a settlement agreement dated May 28, 2024, Colorado’s Jefferson County agreed to pay $500,000 to Frederick Fisk, a former detainee at the county jail who suffered substantial injuries to his face after guards used a jujitsu …
News in Brief by Alabama: A Jefferson County Jail guard was briefly abducted and assaulted by detainee Reontay Harley, 33, on January 13, 2025. WBMA in Birmingham said that after Harley took the unnamed guard hostage inside a cell, responding jail Extraction Unit guards rescued their fellow guard and restrained …
Estate of Jackson Maes v. Board of County Commissioners of the County of Saguache, CO, Verdict Form, Wrongful Death, 2025 Case No. 1:21-cv-00628-NYW-NRN Document 329 pg 1 of 4 filed 04/09/25 USDC Colorado IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Civil Action No. 21-cv-00628-NYW-NRN SARAH LIEBERENZ, …
Tenth Circuit Stretches PLRA to Deny Claim of Colorado Prisoner Shot by Guard While Shackled by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney In a maddening decision issued on July 16, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit managed to dismiss the excessive-force claim of a Colorado prisoner …
Estate of Michael Burch v. BOCC for the County of Huerfano, CO, Complaint, Wrongful Death-Excessive Force, 2025 Case No. 1:25-cv-00975 Document 1 filed 03/26/25 USDC Colorado pg 1 of 73 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Civil Action No. The ESTATE OF MICHAEL BURCH, by …
The Grift That Keeps on Giving: $33 Million for State Prisons Generated by Seized Native Land by In 2024, land trusts in 10 states generated an estimated $33 million in revenue for their prison systems. The figure was estimated from reports by Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, …
Over 100,000 Criminal Records Sealed Under Colorado’s “Clean Slate Act” by Colorado lawmakers have amended the state’s “Clean Slate Act” to include arrests without charges and completed diversions. Effective July 1, 2025, arrest records will automatically be sealed when no charges are filed within one year. The provision is retroactive …
Colorado Legislature’s New Jail Oversight Committee Not Weighted in Detainees’ Favor by On June 3, 2024, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed HB 1054 into law, extending the life of a Legislative Oversight Committee to enforce jail standards in the state, while also letting a companion Legislative Oversight Commission on …
BOP Settles Muslim Prisoner’s Religious Discrimination and Medical Denial Claims at Colorado Supermax by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On April 26, 2024, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) entered into the last of multiple settlement agreements with a Muslim prisoner who accused the prison agency of failing to …
Estate of Daniel James Murray v. Wellpath, LLC, CO, Settlement, Unconsitutional Medical Care, 2024 Steve Schleiker El Paso Countv1 CO 11/20/2024 10:24:35 AM Doc $0.00 20 Illllll lllll lllll lllll lllll lllll lllll1111111111 11111111 Rec $0.00 Pages 224092550 RESOLUTION NO. 24-455 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COUNTY OF EL PASO, STATE …
Colorado Becomes First State to Require Polling Stations in Jails by On May 31, 2024, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed S.B. 72 into law, making his the first state in the U.S. to require jails to operate in-­person polling stations for eligible detainees to cast a vote. Some 6,000 …
Colorado Prisoner Forces Correctional Health Partners to Treat His Colon Disease by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney After winning a temporary restraining order (TRO) directing the medical contractor for the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) to treat his colon disease, state prisoner Arthur Burnham’s location was unknown on September 10, …
Turn Key Health Clinics: Another Private Jail Medical Provider Leaving a Trail of Death and Misery by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Jails face a monumental task in the provision of medical care. Those who’ve just been arrested are often experiencing withdrawal from drugs or alcohol. Other pre-existing medical …
$1.1 Million Settlement for Colorado Prisoner Stabbed by Gang Members For Testifying About Prison Murder by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On February 1, 2024, an agreement was filed in the federal court for the District of Colorado by the state Department of Corrections (DOC), promising to pay $1.1 …
