The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario in federal court, claiming he has hampered its probe into alleged abuse of jail inmates and violations of their constitutional rights.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Denver’s federal district court, asks for an emergency order prohibiting Vallario from barring confidential visits between an ACLU attorney and prisoners.
In the midst of the ACLU’s visit to the county jail in Glenwood Springs, the Garfield sheriff imposed an unwritten policy requiring inmates to identify their attorneys in order to visit with them, ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein said.
“Neither prisoners nor criminal defense attorneys with years of practice in Glenwood Springs have heard of this policy before,” Silverstein said. “I hope this policy was not invented for the purpose of interfering with the ACLU’s ability to investigate complaints about the sheriff’s treatment of prisoners.”
Vallario could not be reached for comment Thursday, and County Attorney Don DeFord was not available, his staff said.
In a June 13 letter to the ACLU about its request for additional space to interview two inmates at a time, Vallario pointed out that the jail has only one room for direct contact between an attorney and a client.
“The privilege is only allowed for visitation between inmates and their retained attorneys,” Vallario wrote. “Any other visitation is arranged through our visitation procedure which requires the inmate to initiate. This is done to ensure the safety of the inmates, staff and visitors of the detention center.”
Last week, ACLU attorneys spent three days at the Garfield jail investigating allegations against jail staffers that included unjustifiable use of restraint chairs as punishment; abusive and unjustified threats to use “pepper ball” guns, pepper spray and Tasers on prisoners; harsh disciplinary measures for minor infractions; and the unjustifiable delay of medical attention and decontamination of prisoners subjected to pepper spray.
Some inmates also alleged they were strapped into a chair while hit with pepper spray, the lawsuit claims.
During their visit, an ACLU attorney was prevented from speaking with three prisoners who had been interested in the ACLU’s legal assistance, Silverstein said. The jail’s policy, the attorney was told, was that inmates would be required to name the ACLU as their attorney in order to visit privately.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
