Latest news with #ColoradoBlackRoundTable
Axios
29-04-2025
- Axios
Scoop: Inside Denver jail's new family-friendly reforms
The Denver Sheriff's Department is overhauling how and where family visits are conducted at the county jail, Axios Denver has learned. Why it matters: The revamp is part of a broader push toward progressive reforms inside Denver's jail. Driving the news: Sheriff Elias Diggins announced the move last Saturday at a Colorado Black Round Table event — remarks first reported by Axios Denver. Starting Thursday, the department will unveil a remodeled visitation space featuring murals, carpet, softer chairs and a smaller, more private room, replacing the stark white walls and long white table currently in use. The department is also changing its dress code for people in custody. They will now be allowed to swap inmate uniforms for regular clothes before contact visits. What they're saying: The changes aim to make the experience less traumatic for families of those being held, and signal a significant shift toward normalizing the environment, Diggins said. Seeing a parent in an inmate uniform is something "you never get … out of your head," he recalled, describing memories of visiting his own father in the Denver County Jail. Catch up quick: Last year, the sheriff's department reinstated in-person visits for the first time in nearly 20 years. That same year, the agency launched a pilot program that gives inmates Colorado identification cards to save time when applying for services, employment, housing or school after their release. It also recently made phone calls free for inmates and cut call rates for families from 8 cents to 6 cents per minute, according to Diggins. The big picture: With 97% of individuals in custody at the county jail expected to eventually return to the Denver community, Diggins said, the department is trying to create a less punitive, more rehabilitative system to prepare them to be "productive citizens."
Axios
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Denver's defiance of Trump peaks at 100 days
As President Trump crosses the 100-day mark, Denver is doubling down on defiance. Why it matters: In just three months, the Trump administration has raided the Denver metro, threatened its schools and universities, tested its courts, pulled federal funding, and rattled its workforce. In doing so, it's united much of the Mile High City in opposition — and put an even bigger bullseye on Denver's back. What they're saying: "Our community is under attack" and has already been stripped of $40 million in federal grants, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said Saturday at a Colorado Black Round Table event. "No matter what the threats are, we're not going to be bullied or blackmailed out of [our] values," he pledged. Zoom in: Denver's new district attorney, John Walsh, is emerging as one of Trump's fiercest local foes — particularly on immigration. "We need to push back and refuse to cooperate in the illegal actions [the Trump administration] is taking daily," Walsh said at the round table event. "My office will refuse to cooperate." Denver City Council members are also elevating their voices and calling for more community action: "This is not the time to lay low," council member Darrell Watson said at the event. "We gotta get noisier," council member Stacie Gilmore urged. "Nobody on council is going to stop speaking the truth," council member Sarah Parady vowed. "There might come a point where you think, 'Can we really afford to lose all of our federal funding? Would it maybe be better to just compromise?'" — but "the answer is no," Parady said, "because they will use that leverage over and over again."
