Inmate Classification
General Information
Inmate Classification is responsible for assigning a security classification to each inmate after being booked into the El Paso County Jail, which contains several types of wards or cells. The Classification Unit considers various factors when determining an inmate's classification and placement; however, an inmate's classification can be changed even after being admitted. Housing reviews/re-classifications are completed on a 45, 60 and 90-day period depending on where the inmate is housed.
The Classification Unit is responsible for the placement of inmates into the various internal programs such as the Trusty Program, Volunteer Program, Reintegration Program, and Progressive and Regressive Housing Program.
The Sure and Swift Program is an intermediate sanction project that was being piloted by the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC), Division of Adult Parole. The program originally began September 1, 2014, and was active until February 28, 2015. Due to the success of the program, the CDOC received funding to continue the program and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office agreed to continue to provide beds. The program originally included five beds to be utilized for jail stays of one day or up to three days as an intermediate sanction. The El Paso County Sheriff’s office now provides up to 12 beds and then the inmate can stay one day or up to five days as an intermediate sanction. The program continues to be designed for parolees who live in the county and whose behavior warrants a short term jail stay but does not require an arrest seeking revocation per statutory guidelines. Parolees who have committed low level violations have been previously advised that behavioral violations will result in a short term jail stay.
The Community Parole Officer (CPO) arrests and transports an offender using the Sure and Swift Hold and Release Form, which indicates the hold and the release date and time. Also, the El Paso County Jail utilizes the Sure and Swift hold and release form to create a bill for CDOC that distinguishes which parolees are part of the Sure and Swift Program and can be billed beginning the first day of their incarceration from other billable offender populations.
In December of 1995, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office was the first Colorado Sheriff’s Office to implement an anti-fraud program designed to identify inmates to federal, state, and local public assistance agencies with the intent to cease illegal benefit payments to incarcerated persons. Individuals who are incarcerated are not entitled to receive benefits from the Social Security Administration, Colorado Division of Employment and Training, and Department of Social Services; these benefits are in the form of SSI, disability, unemployment, food stamps, and AFDC payments.
On a weekly and monthly basis, the Sheriff's Office notifies the appropriate local, state, and federal agencies of the names, social security numbers, and birth dates of all inmates in our county detention facilities. These agencies compare the lists against names of their benefit recipients. When a match is discovered, that agency commences actions to stop payments to the respective inmate while the inmate is incarcerated. The program has resulted in a substantial savings of taxpayer money.