Criminal Sentencing and Punishment

Alan Sudduth learned young that you never snitch -- but now, only the truth can set him free

Children behind bars: Why Colorado is trigger-happy when it comes to sentencing kids like Alan Sudduth as adults

Alan Sudduth was sixteen years old when prosecutors charged him as an adult.​Our cover story this week recounts the tale of Alan Sudduth, a juvenile who was sentenced to seventy years in prison in 1996 for the murder of a cab driver -- even though a recent hearing showed that the prosecution's ... More >>

Racial-attack suspects: Hearings, sentencings and Allen Ford's not guilty plea

Media reports have connected Allen Ford to Andrew Gelston Graham's murder.​Last week, we told you about reports again linking suspects in a series of racial attacks to the thus-far-unsolved murder of Andrew Gelston Graham. Among those mentioned as being part of a group that allegedly trailed ... More >>

Operation Cock Block tries to protect women's hearts and pocketbooks from this crooked Casanova

Media reports have connected Allen Ford to Andrew Gelston Graham's murder.​Last week, we told you about reports again linking suspects in a series of racial attacks to the thus-far-unsolved murder of Andrew Gelston Graham. Among those mentioned as being part of a group that allegedly trailed ... More >>

Stan Garnett tries to capitalize on AG John Suthers's link to serial killer Scott Lee Kimball

Stan Garnett's playing hardball.​In an April post announcing his intention to challenge Colorado Attorney General John Suthers at the polls this November, Boulder district attorney Stan Garnett focused on issues like watching out for consumers, championing the environment and crafting a workab ... More >>

Bill Ritter's baby steps toward prison reform

The pen is mightier than the pen: Governor Bill Ritter signs a drug sentencing reform bill. ​After the embarrasing political scrum over the sex offender bill that prompted Governor Bill Ritter to veto the mess last week, it's easy to overlook the fact that something was actually accomplished o ... More >>

Solitary-confinement report conclusions outrage prison activists

Colorado's supermax is so much fun the state is opening a second one. ​The release of a twelve-month study about the mental effects of solitary confinement at Colorado's supermax is still weeks away. But preliminary results leaked from the report -- which suggest state prisoners suffer little ... More >>

Paralyzed in a police shooting, Darrell Havens is paying a terrible price for his crimes. So are taxpayers.

Colorado's supermax is so much fun the state is opening a second one. ​The release of a twelve-month study about the mental effects of solitary confinement at Colorado's supermax is still weeks away. But preliminary results leaked from the report -- which suggest state prisoners suffer little ... More >>

Darrell Havens: Car thief paralyzed by Arvada police shooting in standoff over parole deal

Darrell Havens.​In June, I wrote about Darrell Havens, the paralyzed car thief whose medical parole was canceled after Arvada police chief Don Wick complained. A month later, the situation appears no closer to a resolution.

Kristen Stillman survived unspeakable horrors of abuse -- and the nightmare isn't over

Kristen Stillman.​What happened to eight-year-old Kristen Stillman and her twin brother after their mother left them in northwest Denver was unspeakable. And after a few frustrating attempts to tell adults of the abuse, Kristen quit trying. A prisoner, she stayed silent through four pregnancie ... More >>

Chris Bartkowicz: Marijuana community to rally at courthouse for grower facing 60 years in jail

Chris Bartkowicz.​As we noted in a September 10 post, the February arrest of Highlands Ranch marijuana grower Chris Bartkowicz, as well as his subsequent indictment, has been a rallying point for local medical-marijuana activists. That will literally be true tomorrow, when members of major MMJ ... More >>

Prison advice about snitching, shanks and pretending that man with makeup is a woman

​Here at the Criminal Affairs Desk, we get letters from inmates. Boy, do we get letters. But one recent missive from a Colorado prisoner offers some of the best advice we've ever heard for negotiating a long stretch in the state prison system. Such as: Don't ask, don't snitch. Keep an eye out ... More >>

Top Ten musical jailbirds: In honor of Lil Wayne and T.I. and their respective prison stints

​Earlier this morning, Lil Wayne was released from New York's Rikers Island after serving eight months of a one-year sentence for criminal possession of a weapon. Fellow Southern rapper T.I., meanwhile, went back to jail on Monday after a federal judge in Atlanta revoked his probation follow ... More >>

Jerry Gallegos: 6-year jolt for cop impersonator who couldn't start car he tried to steal

Large photo below.​On the surface, it seems like a perfect scam. Approach a stopped vehicle, flash a bogus police badge, confiscate the driver's keys and wallet, then hop into the car and drive off. But what happens if the car won't start? For Jerry John Gallegos, the answer to that question ... More >>

Ronald Eugene Beach gets 20 years for abusing granddaughters, ages 3 and 5, at Fort Carson

​Ronald Eugene Beach, 63, has been sentenced to twenty years in federal prison for sexual abuse of minors, and the stipulated facts included in his plea agreement on view below certainly present a strong, and disturbing, case for the sentence's length. The targets? His own granddaughters, who ... More >>

Daryll Brown gets life for hitting ex-wife Alisha Brown with wine bottle, strangling her to death

Big pics below.​On December 30, 2009, Alisha Brown was found murdered in the Sixth Avenue West subdivision. The following February, her ex-husband, Daryll Glenn Brown was arrested for her death. Now, Brown has been convicted and sentenced to life without parole for a crime involving a sneak a ... More >>

Marijuana grower Chris Bartkowicz sentenced to five years

Bartkowicz.​This morning, Highlands Ranch's Chris Bartkowicz was sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by eight years on supervised probation, for federal marijuana cultivation charges. Bartkowicz will also undergo mandatory drug and mental health programs

Timothy Gonzales, who moved into man's house and boxer shorts, also sentenced for sex assaults

Big pics below.​Timothy Gonzales made news in November 2009 after being found in a guy's house wearing the owner's boxer shorts -- hahahahahaha! So why the holy hell was he sentenced this week to 28 years in prison? For some very good reasons -- including sexually assaulting two teenagers.

Raped and extorted by a prison gang, Scott Howard was called a "drama queen" by corrections officials

Big pics below.​Timothy Gonzales made news in November 2009 after being found in a guy's house wearing the owner's boxer shorts -- hahahahahaha! So why the holy hell was he sentenced this week to 28 years in prison? For some very good reasons -- including sexually assaulting two teenagers.

Scott Howard: Inmate's history of obtaining bogus refunds tip of prison-tax-fraud iceberg

​This week's cover story, "The Devil's Playground," recounts the ordeal of Scott Howard, a Colorado inmate extorted and sexually assaulted by the 211 Crew prison gang. But it's also about Howard's history of obtaining bogus tax refunds while behind bars, a talent the gang was eager to exploit. ... More >>

Brian Hicks found guilty of hiring Willie Clark, another man to kill witness Kalonniann Clark

Brian Hicks.​ Brian Hicks, the reputed leader of the Tre Tre Crips gang, has been convicted of soliciting two men to kill a witness named Kalonniann Clark. The 28-year-old Clark was killed on December 6, 2006 -- just a week before she was scheduled to testify that Hicks tried to shoot her in 2 ... More >>

Tom Clements, new Colorado prison chief: Can he bust out of the state's revolving door?

Tom Clements.​This week, the Colorado Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment of Tom Clements as Department of Corrections executive director. It's not one of the most glamorous posts in Governor John Hickenlooper's cabinet, certainly, but it's one of the most crucial if the state is goin ... More >>

Letters: The Flagstaff House helped me propose to my wife

Tom Clements.​This week, the Colorado Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment of Tom Clements as Department of Corrections executive director. It's not one of the most glamorous posts in Governor John Hickenlooper's cabinet, certainly, but it's one of the most crucial if the state is goin ... More >>

Mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement: New bill seeks to stop the madness

​Roughly four out of every ten prisoners in solitary confinement in Colorado is either developmentally disabled or mentally ill, a figure that's been rising steadily over the past decade. Senate Bill 176, headed for a statehouse committee review later this week, seeks to drastically reduce tha ... More >>

12-year-old accused of killing parents to become youngest Coloradan tried as adult for murder?

Big pic below.​A petition has been filed in juvenile court regarding a 12-year-old from Burlington suspected of killing his parents, Charles and Marilyn Long, and wounding two siblings. But prosecutor Robert Watson still hasn't decided whether to ask for a transfer to adult court. If he does, ... More >>

Shun Birch found guilty of murdering a witness; co-defendant Willie Clark's trial date not yet set

Shun Birch.​ A second man, 29-year-old Shun Birch, has been convicted of murdering a witness named Kalonniann Clark in 2006. He was one of three men charged with Clark's killing -- and perhaps the least known. Reputed gang leader Brian Hicks was found guilty at a trial last month. Willie Clark ... More >>

Colorado Juvenile Equal Protection Act: Should terms be lowered for 48 lifers busted as juvies?

Claire Levy.​Although Representative Claire Levy has gotten plenty of attention for her sponsorship of THC driving limits, and her change of heart over the best possible standard, she's equally passionate about the Colorado Juvenile Equal Protection Act, which is slated to go before the judici ... More >>

Senate Bill 241: Is Colorado ready to fix parole's revolving door?

​Over the years, we've written frequently about the breakdowns in Colorado's parole system -- how heaping mandatory parole on top of prison sentences and making ill-prepared felons jump through multiple hoops drives up prison costs. Now there finally seems to be some serious efforts among lawm ... More >>

Scott Howard: Prison rape survivor's story going international

Scott Howard​The story of Scott Howard, who endured extortion and rape by an inmate gang in Colorado's prison system, was told in detail for the first time in my feature "The Devil's Playground" three months ago. But our account quickly went viral -- and Howard, now free to speak out about pri ... More >>

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 >>

Lindsay Lohan's ad and other attention-grabbing antics from celebs under house arrest

Man, house arrest is rough.​House arrest isn't just for political prisoners, Pol Pot and Ponzi scheme artists anymore. In the last few years, many celebrities have had the pleasure of serving hard time in the comfort of their own cushy homes -- including Lindsay Lohan, who was placed under hou ... More >>

Curtis Hilty, realtor who raped babysitter while she slept, gets only 30 days jailtime

Curtis Hilty.​Prominent Boulder-area realtor Curtis Hilty was found guilty in April of two felonies -- sexual assault on a helpless victim and sex assault-overcoming a victim's will -- for raping a twenty-year-old babysitter while she slept. Yet when he was sentenced yesterday, a judge gave h ... More >>

Private prisons thrive on greed and bad policy, new report says

​Back in the lock-em-up frenzy of the 1990s, overcrowded state prison systems relied heavily on the emerging private prison industry to handle their excess inmates. Now that state prison populations are falling, you might expect the private sector to be taking a few hits, too -- but guess agai ... More >>

Prison rape: New resource center focuses on improving prosecution, prevention

​You won't find many prisons where the subject of rape behind bars is openly discussed, by inmates or staff -- not because it isn't a problem, but because it is. A Bureau of Justice Statistics report estimates that more than 200,000 adult prisoners endured sexual assaults in 2008, roughly one ... More >>

Robert Walters asked Michael Leathers to kill his wife before hiring another man, police say

​ Robert Walters, the subject of this week's cover story, "Dead End," was persistent, prosecutors say. After one man declined Walters's request to kill his wife, he turned to Rodrick Williams, a career criminal who accepted the job but then ratted Walters out to the police. So who was the fi ... More >>

Prison rape: Sheriff compares it to UFO sightings, other "cultural delusions"

​Corrections officials are understandably defensive about a controversial Bureau of Justice Statistics survey that indicates a high incidence of prisoner sexual abuse in their facilities. But is that any reason for jail bosses to claim inmates are concocting fake stories of prison rape in orde ... More >>

Thomas Silverstein: Judge rules conditions at supermax not "extreme"

Silverstein.​Federal judges in Denver are of two minds about the kind of punishment doled out at the supermax penitentiary in Florence. While one is allowing a Tanzanian terrorist's complaint about the prison's restrictions on his mail and visitors to proceed to trial, another has thrown out T ... More >>

Reader: Prison rape does occur in the Colorado system whether officials want to admit it or not

​Alan Prendergast's post about prison rape, which one sheriff compared to UFOs and other cultural delusions, sparked a response from a reader identifying himself as a veteran correctional officer. He says such incidents are no fantasy.

How victim rights became a juggernaut shaping spending, laws and the future of punishment

​Alan Prendergast's post about prison rape, which one sheriff compared to UFOs and other cultural delusions, sparked a response from a reader identifying himself as a veteran correctional officer. He says such incidents are no fantasy.

Darrell Havens: Lawsuit reinstated in police shooting that left him paralyzed

Darrell Havens.​A federal judge has ruled that Darrell Havens can proceed with his lawsuit against the Arvada police officer who shot him during a car-theft sting operation in 2007, leaving him a quadriplegic. The decision has Havens' attorneys poised to conduct a fresh investigation of the c ... More >>

Medical marijuana: 10 years for Cheeba Chews in Japan? Western states aren't much kinder

9News​Yesterday, 9News broke the story of Colorado School of Mines student Tim Wilson. The 25-year-old is facing up to ten years in prison in Japan because a friend back here in Colorado sent him a care package containing some pot cookies and Cheeba Chews.

Solitary confinement: Isolating prisoners overused in Colorado, study suggests

​A study by researchers at the National Institute of Corrections has found that Colorado's approach to locking down its most unruly prisoners in 23-hour-a-day isolation is "basically sound" -- but could be used a lot less. Instead, even as the state's prison population is declining slightly, t ... More >>

The Big Bitch

The secret behind long sentences handed out to repeat offenders in the 18th Judicial District

Sister Helen Prejean on why Colorado's death penalty is past its expiration date

Sister Prejean.​When you've spent close to three decades as one of America's leading opponents of capital punishment, you develop an understanding of what states truly have the will to execute their condemned. And Sister Helen Prejean, the Dead Man Walking author who's in Aurora tonight for a ... More >>

Robert Hood: A former supermax warden's resolutions for 2012

Robert Hood.​A former warden at the highest-security prison in the country -- the federal supermax prison outside Florence -- has some intriguing advice for fixing the nation's troubled, budget-draining corrections system in the coming year. Intriguing, in part, because some of the changes Rob ... More >>

Juvenile lifers targeted for rape, excessive isolation in adult prisons

​Juveniles doing time in adult prisons, surrounded by older and stronger criminals, rarely fare well. But juveniles serving sentences of life without parole in the United States face particularly daunting prospects of sexual assault, neglect and long periods of solitary confinement, according ... More >>

Jared Polis wants investigation into abuse of LGBT immigrants in detention

Jared Polis.​Colorado Congressman Jared Polis has called for a government investigation into alleged abuse suffered by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender immigrants detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "Here we have people who are at their most vulnerable -- many without ... More >>

Private prisons' blueprint for success: more lobbying, less security

​The use of private prisons by states and the federal government continues to increase, yielding billions in annual revenues for two dominant companies in the industry -- despite a lack of solid research that America's experiment with for-profit incarceration actually saves taxpayers money in ... More >>

Darren Garcia: How has HIV-positive prostitute allegedly been able to offend again and again?

Big photos below.​Most of the attention for Wednesday's fourteen arrests in a Colfax prostitution sweep has focused on Darren Garcia, who presents herself as a woman and is HIV-positive. Garcia's eight previous busts include two for the crime of prostitution with the knowledge of AIDS, and she ... More >>

Josiah Sher: Death for accused hit man, or just very expensive trial?

Josiah Sher.​News that Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers is seeking the death penalty for Josiah Sher, the alleged trigger man in a double-murder-for-hire case in Castle Rock, doesn't exactly come as a shocker. The slayings of Amara Wells and Bob Rafferty were about as coldb ... More >>