By JUAN ESPINOSA
A month after the Denver Post reported that Pueblo weaponized its Municipal Court to jail the poor, homeless or addicted population by making contempt of court a crime, Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham and City Attorney Carla Sikes have broken their silence.
“In their July 24th edition, the Denver Post reported, ‘Pueblo routinely slapped contempt of court charges on unhoused individuals and those in the throes of addiction,’” said Denise Torrez, President of EMS — El Movimiento Sigue. “The practice cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in incarceration costs.”
Torrez made her comments on Aug. 12, during the public comment portion of the regularly scheduled City Council Meeting. At the time, the mayor and members of council made no comment to Torrez’s comments.
Mayor Graham and Sikes met with members of EMS on Aug. 23. In a tense atmosphere, Graham said she has been received “continuous harassment” related to the story. “I wasn’t even mayor when this happened.”
When the Denver Post study began in September, Graham was president of City Council. She was sworn in as mayor in January, five months before the study ended.
Sikes, who did most of the talking, began by saying the story focused on a small percentage of Municipal Court cases. She said the 1,743 contempt of court cases involved roughly 10 percent of the 20,000 cases the court hears on an average year and of those, only those who have failed to appear multiple times, face long jail times
The court offers numerous services to people charged with Municipal violations, Sikes said. Those services include free bus passes, community service to work off fines and text messages reminding them of court dates.
Sikes disagreed with the Denver Post report that said one in five Pueblo County Jail inmates on May 29 of this year were being held on contempt of court charges. That day, there were 459 jail inmates, 85 of whom were being held for contempt of court.
“We never went over 30 beds,” Sikes said explaining that the County Jail limits the number of municipal inmates they will house at anyone time. As for the disproportionate number of contempt cases in Pueblo than other Colorado cities, Sikes said, “Our contempt charge is different.” In Pueblo, unlike other cities, contempt of court is a crime punishable with up to a year in jail and a fine.
Because of the limited number of jail beds, Sikes said, Pueblo police officers have been given the authority to grant personal recognizance bonds to people on the street without booking them into jail.
The Post reported that Pueblo Municipal Court routinely stacked the cases to be served consecutively and sentenced people to as much as 660 days. The longest sentence in other Colorado cities was 30 days.
“Other cities were not dealing with a failure to appear rate as high as 75 percent,” Sikes said. “No other city had the problem.”
She defended adding numerous contempt of court citations to misdemeanor crimes resulting in long-term jail sentences. Several sources in the story questioned the constitutionality of the practice.
“I can tell you, that’s not unconstitutional,” Sikes said.
Sikes said the process to charge people with contempt of court for failing to appear began in 2016 “when we went from a 25 percent failure-to-appear rate to 75 percent.”
Graham and Sikes said the lack of state funding for municipal courts leave judges with few options in dealing with mental illness, homelessness and poverty.
“We don’t have enough resources in Pueblo,” Sikes said. “The court doesn’t have any options — we have to have consequences…if you don’t comply, jail time is all we have.”
According to the Denver Post, it costs $147 a day to keep one person in jail. Sikes said she doesn’t know what the actual cost is, but the city pays only $45 a day to the county jail.
Sikes said the sentencing strategy has been successful. One individual, who according the Denver Post story was sentenced to 660 days, served less than 330 days. “(He) got more services in jail than he was getting when he was on the streets.” He was released to a drug treatment program.
After becoming mayor in January, Graham promoted former Municipal Judge Sikes to Pueblo City Attorney. It was Sikes that meted out the majority of the lengthy sentences for contempt. Even before she left the bench, her harsh sentencing practices were under scrutiny
On March 15, visiting Municipal Judge Stephen Jones questioned the sentencing of one man to 660 days. “Am I seeing this correctly?” Jones asked, according to the Denver Post. “We are going to have to do something to try and truncate this.”
Shortly after Jones set a hearing to review the man’s sentencing, Jones said he was told by Mayor Graham and City Attorney Sikes that his employment contract was not renewed.
At the Aug 23 meeting, Mayor Graham said, “Jones’ contract with Municipal Court was expired,” but said she would not provide a copy of the contract because it is a personnel matter.
She said the nonrenewal of Jones’ contract was not related to his questioning of the length of the sentence. She said the hearing was held by another judge.
Also not renewed has been Sikes’ interpretation of the charge of contempt of court. Since Municipal Judge Nelson Dunford was appointed in May by Mayor Graham, he has stopped issuing contempt charge for failure to appear, say lawyers who practice in Pueblo. Instead, an arrest warrant is issued.
When asked if that was a policy change, Graham said it was how Municipal Judge Dunford is choosing to conduct the court.
About 30 people attended a community meeting held at the Salt Creek Community Center on Aug. 15 to discuss The Denver Post article. After a two-hour discussion, the group vowed to continue pressing city officials for an explanation and to hold those individuals who instituted this practice accountable.
