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Tag: Colorado Prisons

DOC Lifts Statewide Visitation Ban At Most Facilities Following Deadly Prison Incident
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

DOC Lifts Statewide Visitation Ban At Most Facilities Following Deadly Prison Incident

By Jesse Sarles | CBS Colorado The Colorado Department of Corrections has lifted its suspension on visitations at all facilities statewide except one after a 27-year-old inmate and a 59-year-old inmate were killed and another was injured in an incident over the weekend at a southern Colorado prison. DOC spokesperson Alondra Gonzalez said the violent incident happened on Saturday in Las Animas at the Bent County Correctional Facility. No staff members were hurt. A lockdown was enacted right away. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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Colorado Prison Visitation Suspended After Two Inmates Die At Bent County Facility
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Prison Visitation Suspended After Two Inmates Die At Bent County Facility

By: Robert Garrison | Denver7 DENVER — The Colorado Department of Corrections announced Sunday an immediate suspension of prison visitation at all locations following a Friday night incident at one of its facilities that left two inmates dead. The CDOC said two inmates died and a third was hospitalized at the Bent County Correctional Facility. No staff was hurt, and officials say there is no threat to nearby communities. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
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Colorado’s prison problem is underfunding. The legislature’s answer was early release.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s prison problem is underfunding. The legislature’s answer was early release.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice On May 19, Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills that will accelerate the release of inmates from Colorado's prisons. No ceremony. No bill-specific statement. The governor's office issued an administrative notice listing six pieces of legislation and went about its day. The two prison bills, SB26-159 and SB26-158, arrived at his desk with the claim that Colorado's prisons are overcrowded.  The population pressure is real. The projected increase in the male inmate population this fiscal year is the largest in 14 years, with the exception of the post-pandemic rebound in FY 2021-22. But the legislature's own budget documents tell a different story about why. Colorado does not have a prison space problem. It has a fund...
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Colorado Democrats Push Prison Release Measures As Capacity Pressures Mount
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Push Prison Release Measures As Capacity Pressures Mount

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Three months after the legislative Joint Budget Committee approved emergency funding for nearly 1,000 more beds in Colorado's prisons, the system is already near capacity again. Gov. Jared Polis asked the committee for up to $200 million to reopen a private prison. It set aside about $6 million to partially reopen the facility but, it will cost another $40 million a year to operate it. That's a non-starter for many Democrats who have introduced bills aimed at lowering the prison population instead. State analysis shows that while admissions have been constant, releases are down. State Rep. Jennifer Bacon says the Parole Board has released only 29 inmates this year out of nearly 240 who are past their parole e...
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Colorado’s prisons are on the verge of total collapse. 
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s prisons are on the verge of total collapse. 

By Ahnaf Kalam | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado's prisons are on the verge of total collapse. As of late 2025, state facilities are operating at nearly 98% capacity, while being severely understaffed. Men's prisons alone are projected to run out of beds entirely in the next fiscal year unless drastic measures are taken to reduce the population or add capacity. Inmates are backing up into county jails which were never designed or funded for long-term state housing, while prison staff face mandatory overtime, burnout, and reduced security and rehabilitation programs. And yet, amid this crisis, the Colorado Department of Corrections has found it in its budget to staff a full-time, taxpayer-funded practitioner of "gender-affirming care" for prison inmates. ...
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Joint Budget Committee approves $2.8M in supplemental funding to address prison overcrowding
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Joint Budget Committee approves $2.8M in supplemental funding to address prison overcrowding

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee has approved nearly $3 million in supplemental funding for the Colorado Department of Corrections to cover the cost of additional prison beds amid an ongoing crisis of prison overcrowding. Last month, DOC facilities reached a vacancy level of 3% for 30 consecutive days, prompting the governor to implement the Prison Population Management Measures established by a 2018 law. The measures include requiring the state’s parole board to compile a list of inmates with low-level offenses who are eligible for parole and can be released from DOC facilities to bring population numbers back down to more manageable levels. The issue of overcrowding in state prisons has been a growing concern f...
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State Triggers Emergency Prison Measures Due to Overcrowding
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The Gazette, Approved, State

State Triggers Emergency Prison Measures Due to Overcrowding

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Gazette Ongoing issues within the Colorado Department of Corrections have prompted the state to trigger its Prison Population Management Measures — a policy framework established in 2018 to address overcrowding. It marks the first time the measures have been put into effect. Under the law, the governor must implement the management measures if the state’s prison vacancy rate stays below 3% for 30 consecutive days, a threshold that was met on Aug. 16. The issue of overcrowding in the state correctional facilities has been a growing concern for months, with county sheriffs sounding the alarm in May over the shortage of prison beds, leading to increased strain on local jails. Facing a budget shortfall of over $1 billion, state lawmake...
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17 Colorado sheriffs to Polis: Fix inmate transfer crisis straining local jails
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denvergazette.com, Approved, State

17 Colorado sheriffs to Polis: Fix inmate transfer crisis straining local jails

By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette A coalition of 17 county sheriffs urged Gov. Jared Polis to resolve the Department of Corrections' backlog in inmate transfers and increase what the local officials described as the state's inadequate reimbursement rate for housing inmates in county jails. Current conditions are unsustainable according the group. In a letter signed by the sheriffs of El Paso, Douglas, Pueblo, and other counties, the group warned that prolonged delays in transferring of DOC-sentenced inmates from county jails into state custody, combined with what they called an "outdated and underfunded" per diem reimbursement rate, is creating a fiscal and public safety crisis.  "County jails were never designed — or funded — to house state inmates for extended periods,”...
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