Our good friend David Howard, who is one of our partners in improving Downtown Denver set up a visit to the Denver Sheriff’s Department on Feb. 5, 2026, which Lisa Pope and I attended. Taking a tour of the facility was both interesting and informative as well as emotionally impactful.
Let’s start with how Denver’s Jails are designed.
Denver’s jail system uses a direct supervision housing model designed to match people with the level of care and supervision they need. Here’s a quick look at how individuals are assigned inside the two facilities.
General Population
Most individuals are housed in standard pods that are separated by security classification. The Downtown Detention Center uses a mix of one‑person and two‑person cells as well as larger dormitory‑style units. Cells are enclosed rooms with solid doors and narrow observation windows; there are no barred cells anywhere in the building. Daily life inside each housing unit follows a structured routine, and movement outside the housing area is tightly supervised by deputies who manage schedules, programs, and safety throughout the day.
Behavioral Health Housing Units
A significant portion of Denver’s jail population has mental-health or substance-use needs. These housing units provide stabilization, therapeutic support, and withdrawal management.
Medical Housing
For individuals with chronic conditions, mobility challenges, or acute medical needs, Denver operates dedicated medical pods with ongoing clinical care. This is made possible in partnership with Denver Health Hospital Authority.
Veterans Pod
Denver maintains a specialized unit for military veterans, offering peer support and access to VA-connected services in a structured, trauma-informed environment. The city can secure Federal Grants and benefits that pay for many of these services.
Special Management Units
For those requiring protective custody or higher security, these pods provide a more controlled environment with limited movement.
Courtrooms used to be inside the City and County Building, which meant inmates had to be walked down the street for hearings. When the new justice complex was built, a secure underground tunnel was added to move inmates safely between the jail and courthouse.
Two “first‑appearance” courtrooms now sit on the second floor of the Downtown Detention Center.
What Sets Denver’ Correction Facility apart from other jails
Denver’s jail system shares many features with other urban detention centers, but a few elements truly stand out:
Veterans Housing Unit
Denver is one of the few jurisdictions with a dedicated pod for military veterans. It offers peer support, trauma-informed programming, and direct links to VA services — a model many cities are only beginning to explore.
Strong Behavioral-Health Integration
Through Colorado’s Jail-Based Behavioral Health Services program, Denver provides in-custody treatment, stabilization, and reentry support for individuals with mental-health and substance-use needs. This level of integration is more advanced than in many detention centers and county jails. The Denver Sheriff Department has the largest number of mental health professionals of any facility in Colorado. It has a staff of 48 mental health professionals and has expanded significantly over the last 5 years.
Partnership With Denver Health Hospital Authority
Medical care is delivered through a formal partnership with Denver Health Hospital Authority, including access to a secure hospital unit. This gives detainees a level of clinical support not always available in local jail systems.
Public Transparency
Denver publishes interactive dashboards on population, safety incidents, and health metrics — a level of openness that is still uncommon nationwide.
Use of Force Policy
The DSD’s Use-of-Force Policy emphasizes that the deprivation of liberty is the punishment, and that staff must “lead with humanity” in all interactions. Key provisions include:
- De-escalation: Deputies are required to use de-escalation techniques and tactical options whenever possible to avoid or reduce the level of force.
- Control Options: The policy specifies which control options are authorized at each level of resistance, with clear requirements and limitations.
- Duty to Intervene: Deputies must intervene to prevent or stop excessive force by any law enforcement officer, regardless of rank.
- Reporting and Review: All uses of force must be timely and accurately reported, reviewed, and investigated. The policy mandates remedial training for deputies disciplined for inappropriate use of force who are not terminated. Deputies always wear body cameras.
Accreditation
The Denver Sheriff’s Department (DSD) achieved full reaccreditation from the American Correctional Association (ACA) in 2024, meeting 100% of mandatory and non-mandatory standards, which reflects strong adherence to national correctional management benchmarks. This achievement required extensive internal audits, policy reviews, and staff training, demonstrating a commitment to operational excellence and safety.
Bonding
Our tour guide estimated that many people who are arrested are released on Personal Recognizance Bonds (PR bonds). Colorado law strongly favors non‑monetary release for low‑risk defendants, and PR bonds are widely used statewide.
However, no statewide report breaks out the percentage of PR bonds by jurisdiction, including Denver. Other states report that they use PR bonds in 60 to 90% of their arrests. Illinois eliminated cash bail entirely in 2023 unless detained for risk.
Arrests
Denver’s Downtown Detention Center has an intake of about 22,000 people arrested per year, or about 65 per day and the average stay is about 25 days.
Denver’s jail population includes:
- A high percentage of pretrial detainees
- Individuals with behavioral health and substance-use issues
- Frequent short-term holds and rapid turnover
These factors typically lower the average stay (because many people leave quickly) but also include a smaller group with longer stays, who may be there for a year.
98% of these people will be back in the community, which makes the services provided to this population incredibly important.
Staffing
A key factor in delivering these services and keeping the detention population safe is adequate staffing.
Staffing shortages are the most critical challenge facing Denver’s jail system. The DSD’s authorized strength—the number of uniformed positions approved in the budget—was 858 FTE in 2025 with only 67% of deputy positions filled and vacancy rates exceeding 20% statewide.
The high volume of arrests places significant pressure on intake, release, and supervision — all of which directly affect safety downtown. When the Denver Sheriff Department is operating 30 to 40 percent below its authorized staffing levels, it raises a fundamental question: can the system realistically provide the level of supervision, programming, and stability required to support a safe community? Staffing shortages clearly affect the safety of both the people in custody and the deputies responsible for managing them.
Everyone in this facility is here because they were arrested for violating laws or conditions of release, and once inside, they must follow a strict set of rules. That environment naturally produces conflict. Tension, frustration, and occasional violence are part of the daily reality. Working as a deputy sheriff is one of the most demanding roles in public safety. Deputies encounter people at their lowest moments — withdrawal, untreated mental illness, volatility, despair. They supervise individuals with significant behavioral‑health needs and are routinely subjected to verbal abuse, manipulation, and threats. Unlike law enforcement officers, they cannot leave the scene; they remain inside the same walls as the individuals they just disciplined.
Even during our brief visit, we could sense how challenging this work must be. Deputies regularly respond to assaults, medical crises, suicide attempts, and a constant flow of grievances and investigations that can feel adversarial. Performing all of this with only two‑thirds of the necessary staff makes the job even more stressful, emotionally draining, and difficult to sustain — which in turn fuels turnover and deepens the staffing shortage.
Denver’s jail system has a reputation for progressive programs and approaches, but it is hard to imagine those efforts reaching their full potential under current staffing and capacity constraints. Ultimately, these limitations ripple outward, affecting not only the safety of the facility but the safety of the broader community.
Continued investment in recruitment, retention, programming, and community engagement is essential to improving outcomes and maintaining public trust.
Overall Perception
- We were genuinely impressed by the range and quality of treatment options available inside the facility.
- We left with a much deeper appreciation for the importance of this work and its role in reducing crime, stabilizing behavior, and supporting long‑term community safety.
- We were also struck by the severity of the staffing shortages.
- As the inmate population grows, and as drugs and mental‑health challenges continue to rise, the facility faces significant operational pressures — pressures that cannot be solved without addressing the staffing crisis.
Thumbnail attribution: Rob Squire
