Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.
“Today, one out of every three men imprisoned in Colorado — and four out of every five women inmates — say they have some type of moderate to critical mental health need, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections. The number of inmates with mental health needs in Colorado’s prisons has steadily risen in the past two decades, from about 4,500 in 1998 to about 10,700 last year.“
The Denver Post
May 25, 2019
Read More“State spending on mental health care for prison inmates has nearly quadrupled in the past two decades. Expenditures on the Colorado Department of Corrections’ “mental health subprogram” increased from about $4.4 million in fiscal year 2000-01 to nearly $17 million in fiscal year 2017-18, the department reports. “
Colorado Gazette
May 19, 2019
Read More“Dean Williams, the new head of Colorado’s Department of Corrections, says he wants to bring a ‘culture change’ to prisons so that the state’s 20,000-plus inmates have a more normal human existence. To that end, the state DOC this month lifted its ban on inmates receiving greeting cards, drawings and certain other personalized forms of correspondence from the outside world.“
The Colorado Independent
May 16, 2019
Read More“According to the release, current policies mean some jails provide limited menstrual hygiene products to inmates. Herod’s bill would require all jails, multi-jurisdictional jails and municipal jails to provide them to people at no expense, according to the release.“
Denverite
March 20, 2019
Read More“Colorado lawmakers on Friday listened as state officials offered proposals and previewed bills that would tackle criminal justice reforms, including alleviating the state’s packed prison system and whether to reopen a $200 million empty building.“
Denver Post
February 22, 2019
Read More"A rogue competition that rewarded participating deputies for using force on inmates at the El Paso County jail only spurred a formal investigation after a deputy became convinced that a fellow deputy had slammed a woman face-first on a cell floor just to boost his ranking."
The Gazette
August 27, 2018
Read More"Jail staff identify brain injury survivors by asking screening questions; those who test positive are then given a symptom questionnaire to pinpoint their cognitive deficits or neuropsychological impairments. The jail uses those results to help them learn coping mechanisms."
US News & World Report
August 22, 2018
Read More"Yet in the El Paso County Jail in Colorado, Sheriff’s Deputy Sandra Rincon was celebrated with a tiara, a “princess” plate, and a cake with the number “50” on top. The number, however, wasn’t her age. It referred to the number of times she had used force against prisoners, ranging from handcuffing to punching and kicking. She was the winner of what one of the county jailers called a “fight club,” crowning whoever used force most often as the champion."
ACLU
July 24, 2018
Read More"Colorado’s Department of Human Services has fielded at least 59 contempt of court citations or threats of contempt — including against the state’s chief of the agency — for how long it is taking mentally ill people to access treatment before standing trial, according to an investigation by CPR News."
Colorado Public Radio
July 23, 2018
Read More"Inmates in state prisons can’t be held in solitary confinement for more than 15 days, the Colorado Department of Corrections announced on Thursday in the latest effort to overhaul a practice criticized as “torture” by the agency’s chief. The changes also require that inmates who are held in solitary confinement at the discretion of prison officials get at least four hours per day outside a cell for recreation or group classes."
Denver Post
October 12, 2017
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