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Criminal Justice

Prison gerrymandering: What is it? Why does it matter? And should Colorado address it?...

Colorado voters last year made it clear that they want to see the state's legislative and Congressional districts drawn so that no one party...
Dean Williams, the new director of Colorado's Department of Corrections, tours the Centennial South prison for the first time on July 19, 2019. The prison can fit more than 900 people and could be used if the state prison population gets too high. But Williams says he's committed to a "philosophical" shift that, in theory, promises to limit that population growth. (Photo by Alex Burness)

Colorado’s prison population was projected to balloon. Now analysts aren’t so sure. Said one:...

Colorado’s methods of projecting how many inmates will fill its correctional facilities long have been flawed, leading to overcounts that can cost taxpayers and...

Colorado PERA members helping support private prisons, immigration detention centers There is some recent...

The roughly 600,000 Coloradans who pay into the state retirement fund for public employees are, in a small way, helping to support the private...

Colorado’s criminal justice system has a mental health crisis. Will the state change its...

Officials agree that growing numbers of people with mental health disorders in Colorado’s criminal justice system is a crisis.  But, in a hearing this week...
A prisoner at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility and her daughter spend time doing crafts together in the gym on a recent Saturday. (Photo by Annaleisa for the DU Prison Arts Initiative)

Women inmates get time with families and ‘sense of normalcy’ in DU arts program...

The Denver Women’s Correctional Facility stands between a train track and Sand Creek on the east side of the city. Rows of taut razor...

ADX, the federal supermax prison in Colorado, is force-feeding hunger strikers The Colorado Independent...

The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility, also known as ADX, in Florence, Colo., is the highest security prison in the country, housing inmates...

“Beyond Reform”: What Michael Hancock has – and hasn’t – fixed in Denver’s troubled...

Late last August, Mayor Michael Hancock and his top safety officials held a news conference to celebrate what they called “a major milestone” in...

Colorado prison inmates can now receive greeting cards. Are free phone calls next? New...

Dean Williams, the new head of Colorado’s Department of Corrections, says he wants to bring a “culture change” to prisons so that the state’s...

Capitol Review: Criminal justice reforms address prison overcrowding, economic inequities

Editor’s note: The Indy is publishing a series of stories reviewing the 2019 legislative session in Colorado. Here, we focus on criminal justice. Other...
A whiteboard inside the Harm Reduction Action Center in Denver on Feb. 8, 2019. (Photo by John Herrick)

Capitol review: Lawmakers chipped away at opioid epidemic with 6 bills Heroin and fentanyl...

Editor’s note: The Indy is publishing a series of short stories reviewing the 2019 legislative session in Colorado. Here, we focus on opioids. We also wrote...