Colorado Department of Corrections
The Colorado Department of Corrections is the principal department of the Colorado state government that operates the state prisons. It has its headquarters in the Springs Office Park in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, near Colorado Springs. The Colorado Department of Corrections runs 19 state-run prisons and also has been affiliated with 7 for-profit prisons in Colorado, of which the state currently contracts with 2 for-profit prisons.
Facilities
Colorado DOC facilities are classified at Levels I through V, with Level I correlating to minimum security, Level II correlating to minimum-restrictive security, Level III correlating to medium security, Level IV correlating to close security, and Level V correlating to maximum security.State-Run Prisons
- Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility - 1,029 inmate capacity
- Arrowhead Correctional Center - 520 inmate capacity
- Buena Vista Correctional Facility - 1,034 inmate capacity
- Centennial Correctional Facility - 936 inmate capacity
- Colorado State Penitentiary - 725 inmate capacity
- Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility - 921 inmate capacity
- Delta Correctional Center - 381 inmate capacity
- Denver Reception & Diagnostic Center - 570 inmate capacity
- Denver Women's Correctional Facility - 768 inmate capacity
- Four Mile Correctional Center - 521 inmate capacity
- Fremont Correctional Facility - 1,601 inmate capacity
- La Vista Correctional Facility - 570 inmate capacity
- Limon Correctional Facility - 938 inmate capacity
- Rifle Correctional Center - 192 inmate capacity
- San Carlos Correctional Facility - 255 inmate capacity
- Skyline Correctional Center - 126 inmate capacity
- Sterling Correctional Facility - 2,320 inmate capacity
- Trinidad Correctional Facility - 500 inmate capacity
- Youthful Offender System
For-profit prisons
- Bent County Correctional Facility - 1,387 inmate capacity, Level III Facility. Owned by CoreCivic.
- Crowley County Correctional Facility - 1,493 inmate capacity, Level III Facility. Owned by CoreCivic.
Closed prisons
- Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center. Closed in 2020.
- Colorado Correctional Center
- Fort Lyon Correctional Facility
- High Plains Correctional Facility
- Hudson Correctional Facility Owned by GEO Group.
- Huerfano County Correctional Facility. Closed since 2010. Owned by CoreCivic.
- Kit Carson Correctional Center Owned by CoreCivic.
- Southern Peaks Regional Treatment Center. Owned by GEO Group.
Operations
All male prisoners entering the Colorado DOC system first go to the Denver Reception & Diagnostic Center before going to their assigned facilities, while female prisoners are sent to the Denver Women's Correctional Facility for processing. Assignments are primarily determined by security level, and each facility can accommodate inmates of different security levels.In 2012, the state of Colorado had no designated death row. All prisoners with death sentences were given classifications of "Close", the highest custody designation possible. As of 2017, all prisoners with death sentences are located at the Sterling Correctional Facility. The execution chamber is located at the Colorado State Penitentiary. By state statute, executions took place there. The death penalty was abolished in 2020.
From the 1890s to the 1990s, the Colorado death row was located at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility. The execution chamber was also located in this prison. In the 1990s, the Colorado State Penitentiary opened. Previously state statute dictated that prisoners with death sentences were to be held at the administrative segregation facility at the Colorado State Penitentiary. In 2011 the State of Colorado moved its death row prisoners in order to settle a federal lawsuit filed by Nathan Dunlap, a death row prisoner. Dunlap had complained about the state's lack of outdoor exercise facilities at Colorado State Penitentiary. The Crowley County facility experienced two major riots involving Colorado and Washington state prisoners, the first in 1999 when operated by Correctional Services Corporation and the second on July 20, 2004, when owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, and involving Wyoming inmates as well.
From the end of 2024, the Colorado Department of Corrections will implement policies for transgender inmates - regarding gender-affirming healthcare and other related issues. This was bought about with a court "settlement" from a lawsuit.