U.S. Department of Justice launches investigation into Colorado prisons, youth detention centers

The U S Department of Justice is examining whether Colorado prisons are violating the constitutional rights of the state s adult inmates and youth detainees through excessive force inadequate curative care and nutrition and policies surrounding the housing of transgender offenders the federal agency declared Monday The Trump administration s probe will examine policies and practices within the Colorado Department of Corrections and Division of Youth Services to ensure that DOC inmates and youths in the custody of DYS are being afforded their rights under the U S Constitution and federal law the Justice Department disclosed in a news release The Constitution protects every American whether they are a young person confined in a juvenile facility or an elderly person confined to a prison Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K Dhillon stated in a report We are committed to upholding our federal civil rights laws so that no one is subject to unconstitutional mistreatment when held in state custody The Justice Department in a letter to Gov Jared Polis dated Monday explained the probe will center on whether prisoners in the Department of Corrections facilities are being provided adequate healthcare care and safe and sanitary conditions Investigators will also seek to determine whether Colorado fails to protect youth in the state s detention and confinement centers from excessive force and fails to provide them with adequate nutrition At last the probe will take aim at the state s guidelines surrounding the incarceration of transgender inmates studying whether the Department of Corrections violates prisoners and detainees right to free exercise of religion by housing biological males in units designated for females the agency disclosed in its letter to the governor A Polis spokesperson could not be reached at once for comment The Justice Department s announcement comes on the heels of Colorado executives denying President Donald Trump s request to move former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters from a state facility to a federal prison A federal court on Monday denied Peters latest request to leave prison She s serving a nine-year sentence on election-related charges Related Articles Young people held at Pueblo detention facility aren t getting enough food parents allege Pueblo detention facility changes food policies following outcry from concerned families Broken bones excessive force and drug overdoses Inside Colorado s juvenile detention facilities How conditions inside Golden s now-emptied juvenile detention facility reached a emerging point Trump has repeatedly called for Peters release and a senior Justice Department official has revealed he s working to free her After Colorado leaders rejected the Federal Bureau of Prisons transfer request last month the president called Polis a sleazebag and disclosed Peters had been unfairly convicted Peters attorneys in court filings have mentioned her physical condition has declined during her time in the Colorado prison It s not clear whether the Justice Department s focus on curative care in Colorado prisons is related to Peters she is not mentioned in the agency s letter to Polis or its news release announcing the probe The establishment s analysis also follows The Denver Post s reporting about the conditions inside the state s juvenile detention facilities Last month parents narrated The Post that their kids were losing concerning amounts of weight at the Youthful Offender System facility in Pueblo due to a lack of food One individual a -year-old was hospitalized after going into renal failure due to malnourishment his family mentioned The statements prompted state correctional staff to change inmate privileges concerning the purchase of food In March The Post discovered internal nonpublic critical case reports presented rampant statements of excessive force by staff members at the state s youth detention and commitment facilities serious injuries sustained by teens while being physically restrained a litany of illicit drugs entering secure facilities and several assertions of staff members engaging in sexual relationships with youth in their care The Division of Youth Services in August removed all youth serving sentences at the Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center in Golden over what staff and advocates called deteriorating safety conditions Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day