An increased amount of bail bonds, ankle monitors, PR Bonds and early releases has resulted in a spike drop of inmates in Colorado.
“The plummeting populations are the result of efforts by law enforcement, judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys in some jurisdictions to keep as many people as possible out of the jails. But the decrease in population won’t adequately prevent the corona virus until there’s enough space in the jails for the facilities to truly practice social distancing, said Rebecca Wallace, staff attorney at the ACLU of Colorado.” said the Denver Post.
Facilities and other municipalities are resorting to these methods to reduce the number of inmates in Colorado jails. The total population of the 15 largest county jails in Colorado dropped to 7,708 on Friday, 31% less than the combined average daily population of 11,002 the facilities reported in January, according to data collected by the ACLU of Colorado.
Recently a coalition of Colorado Lawyers has filed a lawsuit to get inmates out during this COVID quarantine.