Support for the death penalty continues to decline dramatically across the United States, according to a new report released by the abolition-inclined Death Penalty Information Center. The number of new death sentences imposed in 2015 was a third less than the number in 2014, while the number of actual executions dropped…
Colorado Department of Corrections officials say that a push to reduce the use of solitary confinement over the past few years has paid off handsomely — resulting in a dramatic reduction in the number of prisoners in lockdown, a drop in inmate suicides and assaults on staff, and complete elimination…
The Denver Broncos managed to flip the script in Monday night’s epic game. For the past three weeks the team has generated an impressive first half, followed by scoreless second-half collapses. But last night, a punchless opener gave way to a dominant second half — well, except for a fumble…
Tonight’s frigid face-off between the Denver Broncos and the Cincinnati Bengals is one of those make-or-break contests that will help determine if the team Gary Kubiak assembled has staying power or is another exercise in frustration. Depending largely on what happens tonight, the Broncos could wind up division champs or…
There are some unavoidable ironies in Facing the Wind, the large-scale photographic exhibit looming over passengers at Denver International Airport this holiday season. Trudging between interminable security lines and packed airplanes, the weary traveler can gaze upon splashy color images of wild mustangs at play in the vast open spaces…
Monday, December 21, is media day at the North American Aerospace Defense Command headquarters on Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. Giddy journalists from around the state will crowd into the media operations center, hungry for photo ops, B-roll and briefings concerning one of NORAD’s most vital and…
Denver Water’s recycled water program, a supposedly green solution for the increasing demands on one of the metro area’s most precious resources, has been coming under some tough scrutiny lately. As detailed our recent cover story, “What’s Killing the Trees in Denver’s Parks?”, neighborhood groups and park advocates believe that…
Fresh from pleading guilty to distributing child porn and having sex with underage hookers, former Subway pitchmeister Jared Fogle arrived in Colorado a few days ago to begin serving his fifteen-year federal prison sentence. Why Colorado? Because that’s what we do here. We’re the top turnkeys, the customary custodians of…
The current Westword cover story, “What’s Killing the Trees in Denver Parks?”, examines an emerging controversy over Denver Water’s recycled water program, which provides wastewater that’s been sufficiently treated for irrigation purposes at a fraction of the cost of potable water. Denver’s parks department has saved millions by switching numerous…
Prosecutors in southeastern Colorado are seeking execution for a 36-year-old inmate in the 2012 murder of corrections officer Mary Ricard at the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility. The announcement came this week during a court hearing in the long-delayed case — despite persistent pleas from members of Ricard’s family not to…
The attack came without warning. It was carried out swiftly, with ruthless, mechanized efficiency. And when it was over, it was as if the trees had never been there in the first place. Rich Grant had never seen anything like it. A forty-year resident of the Washington Park area and…
Ask any corrections officer: Guarding high-profile criminals is one of the most difficult parts of the job. Not because the most notorious are more dangerous than the rest, but because other inmates know that one way to get famous is to go after the infamous. Serial cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer found…
The Colorado Department of Corrections has committed to spending more than $4.7 million to build outdoor recreation areas at the state’s highest-security prison. The move is in response to a class-action lawsuit brought by prisoners in lockdown at the Colorado State Penitentiary and a federal judge’s ruling that conditions at…
The claims keep piling up against the City of Trinidad and its police force over a badly misfired drug-sting operation that was the subject of my 2014 feature “The Snitch Who Stole Christmas.” The latest lawsuit, filed by civil rights attorney David Lane in federal court earlier this week, seeks…
It’s no secret that President Barack Obama’s pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay has been mired in political maneuvering and posturing of all sorts. What’s surprising, though, is the strange and vehement alliance that’s emerged in opposition to the long-contemplated move of remaining Gitmo detainees to American soil…
The holiday season is a time many folks start thinking seriously about the year to come — and, for the highly organized, a time to seek out a decorative wall calendar. There are swimsuit calendars and pet calendars, and even calendars featuring pets in swimsuits. But for something truly distinctive,…
It’s long been established that the United States incarcerates its citizens at a higher rate than any other country; roughly 716 people out of every 100,000 residents are behind bars in this country. But a new report from the Prison Policy Initiative highlights some less well-known but possibly more startling numbers…
If you missed the exclusive Barbara Walters sitdown with John Ramsey to discuss the 1996 murder of his six-year-old daughter JonBenet, don’t feel too bad. The program, part of a series entitled Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals, aired a couple of weeks ago in a particular corner of basic-cable hell…
Six weeks after the publication of “Halfway to Nowhere,” our cover-story investigation of the grim living conditions and high failure rates found in many of Colorado’s halfway houses, residents of those houses are reporting some shakeups and modest improvements in the situation. The long-time director of Tooley Hall, a Denver…
“The Demon Dog,” our current cover story, focuses on the life and work of author James Ellroy, whose bestselling, high-octane novels evoke a long-vanished Los Angeles of the 1940s and 1950s and present artfully fictionalized treatment of some of that city’s most notorious crimes, including the Black Dahlia case. Ellroy…
The rhetoric has been heating up — in fact, it’s just about gone nuclear — in the bizarre dispute between Adams State University officials and a former professor who’s been prohibited from setting foot on the Alamosa campus, under threat of arrest. Danny Ledonne claims that his banishment is in…
I. ELWAY’S CONFIDENTIAL On a quiet Monday night at Elway’s Cherry Creek, it’s hard to miss James Ellroy. A trim six-three, clean-domed and fond of Hawaiian shirts, eyes blazing, he’s easily the most animated talker in the room. He’s not particularly loud or demonstrative, but he is passionate, holding forth…
