Justice
Inmates were scrubbed from Colorado’s vaccination plan. Where does that leave them?
The arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine has brought hope to many Coloradans, especially those who have loved ones incarcerated in the state’s correctional facilities. A total of 6,736 prison inmates and 1,155 staff members have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic and 17 people have died, according to the Colorado […]
Stories of immigrants detained in Aurora told in ‘The Facility’
Raul Medina Perez still has nightmares about his 11-month stay at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, where he was detained by private prison corporation GEO Group on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I’ve been doing therapy,” Perez said in an interview with Newsline. “It’s a traumatizing experience, you know, I hope that nobody else […]
Colorado among states to sue Google over alleged monopoly
The tech giant Google illegally maintains a monopoly over search engines and internet search advertising, say 38 attorneys general. The attorneys, led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Google in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to a news release from Weiser’s office. The suit seeks […]
Rising rents, stagnant wages leave many Colorado tenants struggling to meet basic needs
When Laura Rodriguez’s lease was up for renewal in the middle of the pandemic, she was informed by her landlord that her rent was increasing by $200 dollars a month. “We are now paying $1,800 and our landlord already announced that next August 2021 our rents will go up to $2,200 a month,” said Rodriguez, […]
Police accountability in Denver hampered by lack of documentation during protests
When Nick Mitchell, Denver’s independent law enforcement watchdog, received a formal request from City Council in June to conduct an investigation into the Denver Police Department’s aggressive crowd control methods during the summer protests for racial justice, he wasn’t surprised. “I was already engaged in discussions with a lot of people, including city officials, who […]
ACLU files federal lawsuit against El Paso County sheriff over COVID protections for jail inmates
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, alongside three private attorneys, filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on Sunday to improve COVID-19 protections for incarcerated people at El Paso’s county jail. The lawsuit seeks an expedited hearing and court order to require El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder to comply with COVID-19 public […]
Colorado’s revised vaccine plan removes priority for incarcerated people, shelter residents
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment published a revised COVID-19 vaccination plan, which de-prioritizes people in prison and those experiencing homelessness but adds long-term care facility residents to the top of the list. Colorado is preparing to receive 95,600 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine a week after the first shipment of 46,800 vaccine […]
Polis let himself be bullied on vaccination for inmates
Gov. Jared Polis let himself be bullied by George Brauchler. And the result is that Colorado’s coronavirus vaccination plan could be compromised. Brauchler, the outgoing attorney for the 18th Judicial District and one-time candidate for governor, published an op-ed in The Denver Post on Sunday that falsely accused the Polis administration of wanting “to prioritize […]
ACLU asks judge to order Polis to decrease state’s prison population
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado on Wednesday asked a judge to issue an emergency order to force Gov. Jared Polis to decrease the state’s prison population to promote greater social distancing and protect vulnerable inmates from the coronavirus. The preliminary injunction submitted in Denver District Court is part of an ongoing class action […]
Homeless camp sweeps run counter to CDC guidelines. Denver officials stand by their decisions.
When 29-year-old Garen Zamba arrived at his tent in Five Points on Monday around 7 a.m., a temporary chain-link fence had been erected around the perimeter of the large homeless encampment where he lived. When he asked police officers if he could access his belongings, they told him he needed to wait. “We won’t forget […]
As COVID-19 tears through Colorado prisons and jails, testing protocols continue to lag
Carlos Franco-Paredes, a doctor and associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, worries the worst is yet to come for coronavirus outbreaks in Colorado’s state prisons and county jails. “We are entering these new waves, and I don’t think we’ve seen half of what is going to happen,” said Franco-Paredes, […]
Gov. Jared Polis appoints Maria Berkenkotter to be Colorado Supreme Court justice
Gov. Jared Polis on Friday appointed Judge Maria Berkenkotter to be the newest Supreme Court justice to serve on the state’s highest court. “Throughout her career, she has shown a keen ability to render sound and wise decisions on a broad range of issues,” Polis said, in a statement. “She has deftly presided over high-profile, […]