Denver Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Last week, we began a series of posts discussing sex offenses that take place within the walls of U.S. prisons and jails. First, we presented the statistics of sex crimes occurring among incarcerated men and women, and then we presented the case of former Colorado prisoner Scott Howard, who was often raped and forced to perform sexual acts on inmates before his release.

Attempts to change the correctional system are at work, and the advocates for prisoner rights and safety have wisely assigned financial benefits to preventing sexual assault in U.S. correctional facilities. This is a smart tactic, because efforts to change the system have been put off before due to financial restrictions. The following begins a series of posts presenting the financially-wise reasons to better prevent sex offenses from occurring within our jails and prisons:

Health Costs 

When a prisoner is a victim of sexual assault, they often have to get medical treatment for sustained injuries, and it is not just one time that these prisoners have to be treated. For those inmates who claim that they have been sexually victimized, they have been raped an average of three to five times a piece.

Yesterday, our post presented research collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics that reveals the dangerous reality of America's correctional system. According to the bureau's recent research, an estimated 300 inmates are sexually abused in our jails or prisons every day.

Scott Howard was one of those victimized prisoners. Howard is a former inmate of a Colorado prison, and he confesses that he was raped and forced to practice sexual acts on other inmates during his two years in the Colorado facility. He reported the incidents to facility staff members but was told that he could only be helped if he named the specific inmates who had assaulted him.

According to Howard, he did name his offenders despite fearing for his life, but no help came because no real process exists within the system to address the issue of inmate-on-inmate sexual assault. Howard claims that his report was so ineffective, that he was put in a cell alone with one of his offenders and assaulted the day he was released from the Colorado prison.

A recent, nationally important piece was included in a Denver source that serves as a pressing call to action for human rights supporters. The Justice Department's Bureau of Statistics investigated the United States' prison and jail systems and uncovered the truth behind the sexual abuse that occurs within the country's correctional facilities.

Too often, the issue of sexual assault in prisons and jails is discussed as a joke in the community, but for the men and women who are serving time as a requirement to move on with their lives, rape is not a laughing matter. It's taking an already traumatic experience and compounding it by turning prisoners into victims of sexual assault within the walls of a government-funded system.

According to the Justice Department's research, not only are men and women being raped in our prisons and jails, but the rate of sexual assault is much higher than both the community and government officials ever believed it was. And the abuse often starts right away.

Chris Bartkowicz was charged in February with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute 100 plus plants, using a place to manufacture a controlled substance and distributing marijuana within 1,000 feet of a children's school. Bartkowicz and his defense attorney claim that he was not knowingly breaking the law.

The defense's argument is that Bartkowicz was following Colorado laws regarding medical marijuana. Prosecutors filed a motion last week that the federal judge overseeing the case should not allow that defense.

Because Bartkowicz is facing federal charges, the prosecution is going after him with federal drug laws in mind, and some would say, they are overstepping their bounds in the case since Colorado allows the cultivation and sales of medical marijuana. 

On July 9, Marvin Booker, 56, homeless and the son of a Tennessee pastor, was booked in Denver's new downtown jail on drug charges, including possession. The booking process took place in the very early hours of the morning, but a jail doesn't sleep, and neither did the witnesses who allegedly saw how Booker died that morning.

Two witnesses, neither with serious criminal backgrounds, claim that Booker was asked to sit at a desk in the booking area, and when he told the officers he wanted to stand and put on his shoes, the officers got excessively forceful. Reports claim that Booker went for his shoes and told the Denver officers that he would rather they put him in a cell instead of making him sit at their desk.

The correctional officers then allegedly went after Booker because they claim he was not obeying them. Witnesses allege that Booker did push an officer away, but that the officers grew in numbers and proceeded to unnecessarily injure Booker. 

On last Wednesday, August 4, Denver's Park Hill United Methodist Daycare Center was running as usual, its doors open to the 150 plus young children who attend the daycare. The facility has been open for nearly 30 years, and now allegations that a summer hire sexually assaulted multiple children enrolled in the daycare have led to the daycare's doors being closed.

Benjamin Janicki, only 20 years old, is being held by Denver officials and investigated for his reported illegal behavior exhibited at the now closed childcare facility. He was arrested on August 4 after one report claimed Janicki had "licked and tickled" a young child while working at the daycare.

Two days later, the one report was compounded by a second claim, and now the accused Denver man is even deeper in the fight to protect his future freedom and reputation. No formal charges have yet been filed, but Janicki will potentially be charged with at least one count of sexual assault by a person in position of trust and sexual assault on a child.

On Monday night, August 2, a 20-year-old woman was killed in a Colorado car crash that was potentially caused by drunk driving. She never saw it coming, both because no one ever expects to be killed in such a tragedy, but she also could not see the driver.

Henry D. Stoltman, 28, was driving that night in a dark vehicle without its headlights turned on. According to the report, police believe that the victim was hit when she continued through an intersection due to not being able to see Stoltman's oncoming vehicle in the dark.

Stoltman crashed into her vehicle, and despite the fact that the victim was wearing a seatbelt, she still died at the Colorado scene.

About one month ago today, we shared the story about the case of 9-year-old Genesis Sims.  Her decomposing body was found dead in the town home where she had lived with Hanif Sims, her father, and Monique Lynch, Sims' girlfriend.

In May, Genesis' body was found by construction workers who were tending to some work on the empty town home. The discovery of the young girl's body sent Colorado authorities on the search for Sims and Lynch, who had been caring for Genesis prior to her death.

As posted previously, after having evaded officials for months both Lynch and Sims were apprehended by police in July and faced child abuse charges. Lynch had a warrant out for her arrest even before Genesis' death, and, according to Sims' account of the incident that led to Genesis' death, that warrant was the reason Lynch insisted not to seek help when Genesis needed it.