This report examines past and continued use of solitary confinement by the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) to manage mentally ill prisoners; considers the moral, fiscal, safety and legal implications of CDOC’s continued warehousing of mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement; and makes recommendations to bring Colorado’s prisons in line with modern psychiatric, correctional and legal standards. The report draws on 18 months of research by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado, which included correspondence with mentally ill prisoners housed in solitary confinement by CDOC; analysis of data provided by the CDOC in response to over a dozen public records requests by the ACLU, as well as other publicly available CDOC records; in-depth review of several prisoner mental health files; extensive written and in-person dialogue with CDOC’s executive team; on site visits to CDOC; and multiple consultations with correctional and psychiatric experts.
Colorado’s municipal courts operate in the shadow of state law, with little meaningful statewide oversight or accountability. Without such oversight, Colorado municipal court judges function largely unchecked as they determine daily how their city will mete out justice. While some Colorado municipal judges are actively working to improve the quality and fairness of their courts, others run their courtroom like a fiefdom, trampling on the rights of criminal defendants—especially those living in poverty—with impunity.
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Thursday, October 5, 2017 - 10:15amShow featured image
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On November 17, 2017, federal immigration agents arrested Kamyar Samimi, a Legal Permanent Resident who had lived in the U.S. for over four decades, at his home in Thornton, Colorado. He was taken to the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, operated by the for-profit prison company The GEO Group, Inc. Two weeks later, he died in their custody.
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Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - 10:15amShow featured image
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