Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Crime and Punishment

He posted $250,000 in cash and fled. Colorado released him on a promise.
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

He posted $250,000 in cash and fled. Colorado released him on a promise.

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Do Colorado courts ignore fugitive warrants for sex offenders just like they do ICE detainers? I wrote a bit back about Colorado’s sanctuary policy and ICE detainers. To see that earlier op ed, click the first link below. The second link below, a Cowboy State Daily (WY) article about a sex offender being released on a PR bond, struck me as a good follow up to the earlier one about ICE. Not so much because the sex offender was here illegally, but because it touches on some of the same things: being released on bond, confusion about detaining someone, and/or Colorado’s seeming unwillingness to honor some warrants/hold requests. Let’s talk the story first. In my earlier op ed, I outlined the process that happ...
Joint Budget Committee approves $2.8M in supplemental funding to address prison overcrowding
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...