The Colorado Department of Corrections refuses to provide sex offender treatment to people serving indeterminate prison sentences despite assuring them that once they go through the program they will be eligible for parole, a new federal lawsuit alleges.
The proposed class-action lawsuit, filed against state prison officials this week in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, argues that Colorado’s failure to provide the treatment is keeping hundreds of prisoners from being considered for release when they’re otherwise eligible — at a cost of tens of millions of dollars to keep “warehousing” them.
Nine inmates serving indeterminate sentences for sex offenses — ranging from 2-years-to-life to 20-years-to-life — in state prisons brought the suit. They argue that the Department of Corrections is providing treatment to higher-risk sex offenders who have finite sentences even if they’re not yet eligible for parole.
By doing so, the lawsuit alleges, the department prioritizes individuals who have fixed prison release dates over those who do not.
“DOC leaves by the wayside individuals who pose lower risks of recidivism, serving indeterminate sentences for less serious crimes of conviction, with shorter minimum sentences,” the inmates’ attorneys, from the firms Haddon, Morgan and Foreman and Recht Kornfeld, wrote.
“This deprivation of treatment results in a de facto lifetime prison sentence for all sex offenders in Colorado with indeterminate sentences,” they added.
Some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit became eligible for parole within a year or two of entering prison, according to the complaint. Others had to wait up to 10 years, but without treatment, none of the plaintiffs have qualified for release.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections also could not immediately be reached for comment. The lawsuit names as defendants Moses Stancil, the department’s executive director; Amanda Retting, administrator of the Sex Offender Treatment and Monitoring Program; and Kimberly Kline, the department’s chief of behavioral health and chair of the state’s Sex Offender Management Board.
The sex offender treatment is mandated for inmates serving indeterminate sentences under the state’s Sex Offender Lifetime Supervision Act of 1998, which states that sex offenders must undergo treatment as part of the sentence and will not be released on parole until they have successfully done so, according to the lawsuit.
The Department of Corrections has said it’s been unable to hire enough employees to staff the treatment program for years, according to the lawsuit, which noted there are other ways the agency could provide timely treatment, such as through telehealth services.
The treatment program is required to have 41 therapists, but has 26 vacancies, the lawsuit alleges.
The program is primarily offered at two facilities: the Fremont Correctional Facility in Fremont County and the Territorial Correctional Facility in Cañon City. The Department of Corrections won’t transfer inmates to get treatment before their parole eligibility date, the lawsuit alleges.
Once the agency does transfer them, it won’t provide treatment until a spot becomes available, with inmates with set release dates getting priority over those with indeterminate sentences, the lawsuit alleges.
“Put simply, DOC is not prioritizing access to treatment based on the severity of an individual’s crime of conviction, his risk of reoffending, his willingness to participate in treatment, his behavior while incarcerated, his due process liberty interest or any other relevant and reasonable metric,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote. “DOC’s refusal to provide treatment to offenders serving indeterminate sentences is arbitrary and capricious.”
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