Colorado Department of Corrections

Pepper spray and restraint chairs: "Use of force" at Colorado's supermax

The year began with Manuel Rodriguez being strapped into a restraint chair. It ended with Rodriguez back in the chair. At Colorado's state supermax prison, inmates get into confrontations with guards -- over food, hygiene, privileges, a refusal to "cuff up" or whatever -- out of boredom, mental il ... More >>

Evan Ebel: Killer's ankle monitor worked fine -- so why did it take days to know he cut it off?

Evan Ebel, the man thought to have killed pizza-delivery man Nathan Leon and Colorado prison chief Tom Clements, cut off his electronic ankle bracelet, and it took his chief probation officer nearly four days to do anything about it. Ebel was a hell-raising inmate and a model parolee. The question, ... More >>

Eric Williams's bust in Texas DA murders nixes theory about Colorado white supremacy link

Earlier this month, speculation was rife that the killings of Texas prosecutor Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia, as well as an earlier slaying, might be linked to the March assassination of Tom Clements, who headed Colorado's Department of Corrections. The theory involved white supremacist prison ... More >>

Edward Montour guilty plea ruling: David Lane on death penalty, James Holmes, "bloody 18th"

At a February hearing, Edward Montour sought to withdraw his guilty plea for a 2002 murder in an effort to avoid the death penalty he'd previously sought. The office of 18th Judicial District DA George Brauchler, who's also seeking death for accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, argued agains ... More >>

Joshua Stevens killed after busting into home of deputy, prosecutor

It could be, and probably is, just a coincidence. But mere weeks after Colorado Department of Corrections executive director Tom Clements was gunned down at his door (presumed killer Evan Ebel is also suspected of murdering pizza-delivery man Nathan Leon), and days since the second of two Texas pros ... More >>

Thirty years in, these Best of Denver winners are still the best in town

The lifers book club: Of mice and men, hopes and regrets at the Limon prison

See also: The ten best books about America's prisons

Darrell Havens: Paralyzed inmate denied clemency, surgery

His doctors have told Darrell Havens that surgery could help relieve his deteriorating condition, but the wheelchair-bound inmate's keepers in the Colorado Department of Corrections aren't exactly eager to okay the operation -- or to release him to seek care on his own. Havens, who was left a quadri ... More >>

Bob Autobee "drops out" of death penalty battle for son's killer, Edward Montour

Frustrated by a decade of legal delays and setbacks, the father of slain state corrections officer Eric Autobee says that he now opposes further efforts to obtain the death penalty for inmate Edward Montour Jr. for the 2002 murder. In a recent interview, Bob Autobee also blasted the leadership of th ... More >>

Ryon Olthoff: Attempted murder beefs follow 911 call, visit to 7-Eleven, cop shootout

Ryon Olthoff's Facebook page, featuring the memorably defiant profile shot seen here, lists him as having worked at "various positions" with the Colorado Department of Corrections in 2009-2010. Presumably, one of those gigs was "inmate" -- and he'll likely get a chance for a do-over after being cha ... More >>

Independent Monitor finalists talk immigration, independence, racial profiling

Today, Mayor Michael Hancock will interview the last three candidates for Denver's open Independent Monitor position -- again. In the second round of a search that has lasted six months, finalists Kenneth Moore, Nicholas Mitchell and Gary Maas all share connections to Colorado. Last night, they answ ... More >>

Hassan Latif: Ex-con advises others how to stay out of prison

Contrary to scenes in numerous books and movies, getting locked up doesn't always lead to painful bouts of reflection and self-examination. Criminals are a stubborn bunch, and it's easy behind bars to embrace a convict code and a victim mentality that merely reinforces addictive, self-destructive an ... More >>

Sharletta Evans meets with son's killer for "healing encounter"

The meeting began with a prayer. Eight hours later, it ended with Sharletta Evans feeling that she'd found much of what she'd been seeking from a face-to-face encounter with Raymond Johnson, one of the people responsible for the killing of her three-year-old son Casson seventeen years ago. She would ... More >>

Troy Anderson lawsuit: Supermax conditions draw criticism from judge

After nearly five days of testimony in a lawsuit brought by Troy Anderson, a prisoner who's been in solitary confinement for twelve years, a Denver federal judge was strongly urging Colorado Department of Corrections officials to fix the harshest conditions at the state's supermax prison -- before h ... More >>

Crowley prison riot: New details of unheeded warnings emerge in epic lawsuit

After the riot, 2004. ​Seven years ago inmates at a private prison in southeastern Colorado went on an all-night rampage, chasing the shorthanded staff from the premises, attacking suspected snitches, setting fires and causing millions of dollars in damages. Now documents filed in a long-runni ... More >>

Letters: Readers have little sympathy for Josh Beckius

Nick Beram sentenced for five bank robberies as stun-gun wielding Sparky bandit

Big pic below.​Nick Beram did everything he could to disguise himself while robbing five area banks while armed with a stun gun. During the crimes, he wore sunglasses, a dark-hooded jacket and a white surgical or dust mask. But he didn't bother to disguise his truck -- and that's why he's bee ... More >>

A Colorado teen sentenced to forty years gets a second chance

Also read: Josh Beckius was sentenced to prison at sixteen -- but sixteen years later, he has a second chance

Harley Lappin: Private prison industry woos another top public official

​There are two revolving doors in every prison system. One is for the inmates, many of whom fail on parole and keep coming back. The other is reserved for top administrators who, even amid scandal, move easily from high-powered positions of public trust to high-paid jobs in the private prison ... More >>

Betsy Long sentenced to 15 years in wrong-way drunk-driving crash that killed Mary Warren

9News​Betsy Long, the former green-biz entrepreneur who blew a .252 blood alcohol content following a crash that killed Mary Warren, a young woman bound for the Peace Corps, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and more in December. But accepting responsibility didn't result in a small sentenc ... More >>

Welfare cheats using ATMs at strip clubs? Representative Dan Pabon's got his eye on you!

Dan Pabon​It's inspiring, really, the way state lawmakers pull together when a matter of great social consequence is at stake. Such seems to be the case with the rapid move through committee this week of House Bill 1058, sponsored by Denver Democrat Dan Pabon, which would prevent poor folks fr ... More >>

"Labia lift" strip searches: ACLU action gooses prison officials into changing degrading policy

Krystal Voss​Even under the best of circumstances, prison is an exercise in humiliation. But life just got a little less nasty for female inmates at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility, who no longer have to spread open their genitalia for invasive cavity searches after a family visit. P ... More >>

Douglas Alward: The puzzle behind an inmate's escape

Douglas Alward​A 48-year-old violent inmate somehow walked away from the Sterling Correctional Facility last night, putting area law enforcement on high alert. The last time Douglas J. Alward busted out of a Colorado prison, nearly twenty years ago, he kidnapped a citizen and shot at a polic ... More >>

Letters: Can a woman understand what it means to be a warrior for God?

Troy Anderson: Mentally ill inmate sues state over decade in the hole

Troy Anderson hasn't been exposed to direct sunlight since 2000.​Troy Anderson knows he's never going to get out of prison alive. He's spent 23 of his forty years on the inside, and though he's never killed anyone, he's currently serving a 75-year sentence on multiple counts for two shootouts ... More >>

Grim details emerge in prison death of sex offender

Inmates claim Ronald Ferguson had been in the unit only a few hours when he was killed.​Last week, we reported on the bludgeoning death of inmate Ronald Ferguson, a convicted child molester, at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility outside of Canon City. A fifty-year-old habitual off ... More >>

Mile High Murder: Kevin Stunes convicted of murdering girlfriend Nancy Bannock last Thanksgiving

View Larger Map This just in from the Adams County District Attorney's Office. Late yesterday, Kevin Duane Stunes was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Nancy Bannock last Thanksgiving at 1616 E. 78th Avenue, an area captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image, cl ... More >>

Male guards and female prisoners -- a brilliant idea!

Photo by John Johnston There's plenty to get disgusted about in the story of a Colorado female inmate who was awarded $1.3 million in damages for two years' worth of sexual assaults by a male guard. As this report in the Denver Post recounts, federal judge David Ebel blasted the Colorado Department ... More >>

A Boulder scientist fights the short pour

Arapahoe County DA Charges Death-Penalty Fees to the State

How does DA Carol Chambers beat the high cost of a death-penalty prosecution? By billing the prison system.

End of an Era

Taking stock of kitchen slang.

Girl Interrupted

Head Games

At least one out of every five Colorado prisoners is mentally ill -- some violent, some undetected or untreated. How did the Big House become the Bug House?

Starved for Attention

How do you break a high-security hunger strike? Put a lid on it.

Going Off

Life in prison can be a riot.

Follow That Story

Roan and Groan

Bulls Behaving Badly

Inmates blow the whistle on male guards at a Pueblo women's prison.

Off Limits

This place is a zoo!

Scratching the Bitch

Joseph Paiva was born defective, but prosecutors stamped him a habitual criminal.

Off Limits

The dangle angle

Bull's Eyeful

The sordid legal saga of Katica Crippen, Second Amendment pinup girl.

Locked and Loaded

A year in the life of the state's most dysfunctional prison.

The Soft Cell

The Department of Corrections cooks up a culinary program for prisoners.

The Killer and Mrs. Johnson

A gruesome crime. A bizarre defense. Can a crusading author reopen her best friend's case?

Reach Out and Gouge Someone

How inmate phone services lock up profits.

Scenes From an Execution

Off Limits

Stealing Time

As its inmate population ages, the Colorado prison system discovers there's no con like an old con.

The Sins of Youth

Colorado gambles millions on a second last chance for violent teens

OFF LIMITS