Parole

Wayne Lufkin, missing Springs man and attempted murderer, busted in Denver

Update: On Sunday, as we note in our original coverage below, Wayne Lufkin, 74, disappeared from an assisted-care facility, after which authorities discovered he had warrants on him in Colorado and Oregon. Now comes word that Lufkin has been found in Denver and is currently cooling his heels in anot ... More >>

Guy Cruz, probation officer, allegedly told woman no sex = jail

Guy Cruz is no longer a probation officer for the 4th Judicial District, and neither he is a high school tennis coach, the next gig he took up. But the Pueblo resident is in big trouble for allegedly threatening a parolee with jail or a loss of access to her son if she didn't get horizontal with him ... More >>

Jeffrey Wells, parole officer, accused of forgery to keep arrestees in jail longer

Jeffrey Wells, a Department of Corrections parole officer based in Grand Junction, is well regarded by his fellow employees, who recently named him top employee of the quarter. But he's less venerated by John Morgan and three other parolees, who are currently suing him for allegedly forging document ... More >>

Sixteen-year-old Tara Perry followed her man into crime and madness

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 >>

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.

Robert Knudsen: Sexually violent predator leaves Wheat Ridge on heels of parole violation

Robert Knudsen.​One of the most uncomfortable responsibilities for municipalities these days is to inform the citizenry that a sexually violent predator has come to town. So imagine how delighted the folks in Wheat Ridge were to let folks know that one who'd previously been living in the commu ... More >>

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

Josh "Penal" Penry: Felons vote the Democratic ticket

"How can I woo the sex offender vote?"​Yes, it's the season for blustery rhetoric and high-pressure posturing down at the statehouse. But few stunts can match, for sheer unintended hilarity, this recent blast from Colorado Senate Republicans, denouncing a bill to restore voting rights to stat ... More >>

Darrell Havens: State yanks parole for paralyzed thief after cops complain

Without a special parole, medical care for Darrell Havens could cost the state more than $2 million before he's eligible for release.​A 22-year-old convicted car thief, left a quadraplegic by police gunfire and now costing the state prison system $200,000 a year for his care, was recently gran ... More >>

Samuel Crespin, number five in Denver's 50 most wanted: Busted

Samuel Crespin has just joined another list...​This past weekend, the Denver Police Department released a roster of its fifty most wanted criminals -- and since then, it's been steadily rounding up the targeted scofflaws. A quartet of the accused were hauled in almost immediately, led by Fred ... More >>

Richard Charles MacNeill, alleged Band-Aid Bandit, peeled off to jail

Is this man Richard Charles MacNeill?​Yet another memorably monikered scofflaw is allegedly off the streets. First it was Timothy McGlothin, thought to be one of the Hoppin Hooded Bandits, whose arrest was announced yesterday. And now it's Richard Charles MacNeill, who Aurora Police think is ... More >>

John Johnson, still lost in the system: Counting the years of his never-ending parole

John Johnson's now in the tenth year of what began as a four-year sentence.​Four years ago, in a feature called "Over and Over Again," I reported on the staggering number of nonviolent offenders stuck in Colorado's revolving-door version of parole -- and costing the state millions of dollars. ... More >>

Scott "Fear Factor" McInnis is very, very concerned about your safety

​Governor Bill Ritter's modest proposal to parole hundreds of inmates a few weeks or months before their mandatory release date, thereby cutting millions from the state budget, has become the political whipping boy for his most opportunistic critics, from GOP legislators to Weld County Distric ... More >>

Life on the street for homeless parolees: "It sucks"

​Three years ago, in a feature titled "Over and Over Again," I looked at one of the primary reasons for the staggering failure rate of parolees in Colorado. That would be the fact that more and more prisoners are paroling homeless, with no job prospects and little preparation for what they're ... More >>

Josh Penry's fears about a plethora of parolees a big mythtake

Josh Penry (pictured here) wasn't a happy man at the legislative hearing on parole policy December 8, and that's probably a good thing. Penry, the Fruita Republican state senator who takes a back seat to no one in his tough-on-crime posturing, has been hollering about the supposedly alarming increa ... More >>

Breaking News: Joe Principe's standoff with the cops ends badly

Three views of Joe Principe. The call came into my voicemail Monday morning, November 17. "I'm calling to give you the exclusive rights to a standoff with the government," the voice said. "I'm not going to leave my house. They're jamming me up again… after all this nonsense that I've been t ... More >>

Can a troubled Colorado prison change the way inmates think?

Paradox Lounge

Put some teeth into it!

Shmuck of the Week

Pandering Over Parole at the Statehouse

Pro and Con

Amadeus Harlan has spent his life playing everyone around him — but not as a Denver Bronco.

Throwing the Book at Parole

Chief Michaud Given Parole

Busted in Sin City

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?

Letters to the Editor

From the week of June 5, 2003

The Revolving Door

Some parolees face a run-on sentence.

The Long Road Home

Why so many parolees go back to prison, and how a new approach could help turn them around.

Cruel and Unusual

Declaring prison a waste of his time and your money, a minor felon seeks his own execution.

Shelter From the Storm

In trying to keep the streets safe, Denver almost made a clean sweep of its homeless providers.

A Man of Convictions

Bob Sylvester threatened to send these men back to prison. Now they're sending him back.

Off Limits

Prison nation...

Follow That Story

Halfway to Nowhere.

Captive Market

Jobs. Gadgets. Profits. Crime pays big-time for the prison-industrial complex.

The Hayward Bus

One woman's long, long journey to fix the parole system and free her husband.

Buddha Behind Bars

For these federal prisoners, their last chants finally gave them inner peace.

Dismal House

Ex-con Bob Sylvester wanted to help parolees go straight. But angry former supporters say that what happened at his shelter was pretty twisted.

Safely Behind Bars

Prison life didn't suit prominent inmate activist Fidel Ramos, but parole was even worse.

Teen Anger

After young Joe Gallegos was let back into society, all hell broke loose.

Inside Information

Prison reformers decry the state parole board's approach toward potential parolees.

Please Release Me

Colorado faces a boom in parolees--and rising evidence that parole isn't working.

This Jail for Hire

Colorado's cheap solution to prison overcrowding has cost inmates plenty. It could cost the state millions.

Stealing Time

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

The Committed

The state pours millions of dollars--and controversial social theory--into a prison for mentally ill felons.

Jack's Back

The state had an opportunity to lock up rapist and career criminal Jack Ainsworth for good. Now it's too late.

AN INCOMPLETE SENTENCE

FOR A DOZEN YEARS, FUGITIVE PEDOPHILE JAMES CHRISTENSEN CLAIMS HE LIVED CRIME-FREE. THAT'S NOT ENOUGH FOR THE STATE PAROLE BOARD.THE SINS OF THE FATHER WHEN PEDOPHILE JAMES CHRISTENSEN WAS SENTENCED UNDER THE DAY-TO-LIFE STATUTE, THE STATE DIDN'T FIGURE O

HOMEWARD BOUND

CRIME MAY NOT PAY, BUT ELECTRONIC HOME DETENTION SURE DOES.

ON THE OFFENSIVE

STRAIGHT TIME