Colorado Revised Statutes

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 17-1-102 (2026)

Definitions

✓ current as of July 2026

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As used in this title 17, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) and (1.3) (Deleted by amendment, L. 93, p. 404, § 1, effective April 19, 1993.)

(1.7) "Correctional facility" means any facility under the supervision of the department in which persons are or may be lawfully held in custody as a result of conviction of a crime.

(2) "Department" means the department of corrections.

(3) (Deleted by amendment, L. 94, p. 602, § 2, effective July 1, 1994.)

(4) "Executive director" means the executive director of the department of corrections. (5) and (6) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2000, p. 829, § 2, effective May 24, 2000.)

(6.5) "Inmate" means any person who is sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a violation of the laws of this state, any other state, or the United States.

(6.7) "Inmate liaison" means an inmate's family member or attorney, a government agency, or a representative from an organization with experience in helping inmates apply for special needs parole, high-needs prerelease planning, or reentry. The organization must be in good standing with the Colorado secretary of state for the past twelve consecutive months and the organization's involvement must be at the request of the inmate, or an inmate's family member or attorney should the inmate be unable to make the request.

(7) "Local jail" means a jail or an adult detention center of a county or city and county.

(7.3) "Private contract prison" means any private prison facility in this state operated by a political subdivision of this state or an incorporated or unincorporated business entity; except that "private contract prison" does not include any local jail, multijurisdictional jail, or community corrections center.

(7.4) "Serious impairment that limits a person's ability to function" means a medically diagnosed physical or mental condition that is chronic and long term in nature and severely limits a person's ability to independently perform essential day-to-day activities without daily intervention, attention, or support from an inmate aide or professional caregiver.

(7.5) (a) "Special needs offender" means a person in the custody of the department:

(I) Who is fifty-five years of age or older and has been diagnosed by a licensed health- care provider who is employed by or under contract with the department or by a private licensed health-care provider involved in providing patient care to the inmate as suffering from a chronic infirmity, illness, condition, disease, or behavioral or mental health disorder that causes serious impairment that limits the person's ability to function;

(II) Who, as determined by a licensed health-care provider who is employed by or under contract with the department or by a private licensed health-care provider involved in providing patient care to the inmate, suffers from a chronic, permanent, terminal, or irreversible physical illness, condition, disease, or a behavioral or mental health disorder that requires costly care or treatment and who is incapacitated;

(III) Who is sixty-four years of age or older and has served at least twenty years of the person's sentence and was not convicted of a class 1 or class 2 felony for a crime as defined in section 24-4.1-302 (1), unlawful sexual behavior as defined in section 16-22-102 (9), a crime that includes domestic violence as defined in section 18-6-800.3 (1), or stalking as described in section 18-3-602; or

(IV) Who, as determined by a licensed health-care provider who is employed by or under contract with the department or a competency evaluator as defined in section 16-8.5-101 (3) and approved by the department of human services, on the basis of available evidence, not including evidence resulting from a refusal of the person to accept treatment, is incompetent to proceed and does not have a substantial probability of being restored to competency for the completion of any sentence including a person who has been diagnosed with dementia that renders the person incompetent to proceed. As used in this subsection (7.5)(a)(IV), "competency" has the same meaning as "competent to proceed", as defined in section 16-8.5-101 (5), and "incompetent to proceed" has the same meaning as defined in section 16-8.5-101 (12).

(b) (I) Notwithstanding subsection (7.5)(a) of this section, "special needs offender" does not include a person who:

(A) Was convicted of a class 1 felony and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole and the offender has served fewer than twenty calendar years in a department of corrections facility for the offense;

(B) Was convicted of a class 1 felony and sentenced to life without parole; or

(C) Was convicted of a class 2 felony crime of violence as described in section 18-1.3- 406 and the offender has served fewer than ten calendar years in a department of corrections facility for the offense.

(II) This subsection (7.5)(b) does not apply to an inmate who has been diagnosed as having a terminal illness with an anticipated life expectancy of twelve months or less by a licensed health-care provider who is employed by or under contract with the department or by a private licensed health-care provider involved in providing patient care to the inmate.

(8) "State inmate" means any person who is sentenced by the state to a term of imprisonment in a correctional facility or who is sentenced to a term of imprisonment pursuant to section 16-11-308.5, C.R.S.

(8.5) "Tampering" means intentionally attempting to disable, damage, or destroy an electronic monitoring device so as to render the device nonfunctional in order to avoid supervision.

(9) "Warden" means the administrative head of a correctional facility.

Source: L. 77: Entire title R&RE, p. 904, § 10, effective August 1. L. 79: Entire section R&RE, p. 685, § 21, effective July 1. L. 91: (1) amended and (1.3), (1.7), and (5) to (8) added, p. 336, § 1, effective May 24. L. 93: (1), (1.3), and (7) amended, p. 404, § 1, effective April 19. L. 94: (3) amended and (9) added, p. 602, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2000: (5), (6), (8), and (9) amended and (6.5) and (7.3) added, p. 829, § 2, effective May 24; (7.5) added, p. 1495, § 1, effective July 1, 2001. L. 2002: (7.5)(b)(II) and (7.5)(b)(III) amended, p. 1499, § 156, effective October 1. L. 2003: (7.5)(a) amended, p. 1910, § 1, effective August 6. L. 2006: (7.5)(a)(I) amended, p. 1398, § 44, effective August 7. L. 2011: (7.5) amended, (SB 11-241), ch. 200, p. 831, § 1, effective May 23. L. 2014: (8.5) added, (HB 14-1044), ch. 199, p. 727, § 1, effective May 15. L. 2017: IP, (7.5)(a)(I), and (7.5)(a)(II) amended, (SB 17-242), ch. 263, p. 1301, § 128, effective May 25. L. 2018: (7.5)(a)(I) and (7.5)(a)(II) amended and (7.5)(a)(IV) added, (HB 18- 1109), ch. 139, p. 912, § 1, effective April 23. L. 2019: (7.5)(a)(IV) amended, (SB 19-223), ch. 227, p. 2292, § 18, effective July 1. L. 2020: (7.3) amended, (HB 20-1019), ch. 9, p. 23, § 1, effective March 6. L. 2021: (6.7) and (7.4) added and (7.5) amended, (SB 21-146), ch. 459, p. 3076, § 1, effective July 6.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 2002 act amending subsections (7.5)(b)(II) and (7.5)(b)(III), see section 1 of chapter 318, Session Laws of Colorado 2002. For the legislative declaration in SB 17-242, see section 1 of chapter 263, Session Laws of Colorado 2017.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 15 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1982–2026 · leading case: State v. Hartsough, 790 P.2d 836 (Colo. 1990).

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State v. Hartsough, 790 P.2d 836 (Colo. 1990). · cites it 4× “[[Image here]] (b) The operation of any public hospital, correctional facility, as defined in section 17-1-102, C.R.S.,[ 2 ] or jail by such public entity.”

Duke v. Gunnison Cnty., 2019 COA 170 (Colo. Ct. App. 2019). · cites it 3× “correctional facility, as defined in section 17-1-102, C.R.S., or jail by such public entity; .”

Sandoval v. Farish, 675 P.2d 300 (Colo. 1984). · cites it 3× “ther with his brand or any brand which is not the recorded brand of the owner or willfully and knowingly effaces, defaces, or obliterates any brand or mark upon such an animal, such person or any officer or director of any such association or corporation is guilty of theft and,…”

Pack v. Arkansas Valley Corr. Facility, 894 P.2d 34 (Colo. Ct. App. 1995). · cites it 2× “Section 17-1-102(1.7), C.R.-S. (1994 Cum.”

Griess v. State of Colo., 624 F. Supp. 450 (D. Colo. 1985). · cites it 4× “Sovereign immunity, whether previously available as a defense or not, shall not be asserted by a public entity as a defense in an action for damages for injuries resulting from: .”

Neiberger v. Hawkins, 70 F. Supp. 2d 1177 (D. Colo. 1999). · cites it 3× “Sovereign immunity is waived by a public entity in an action for injuries resulting from: (b) The operation of any public hospital, correctional facility, as defined in section 17-1-102, C.R.S., or jail by such public entity.”

v. Pennington, 2021 COA 9 (Colo. Ct. App. 2021). “It (1) redefined “private contract prison,” see § 17-1-102(7.3), C.R.S. 2020; (2) prescribed new inmate capacity for the Centennial correctional facility, see § 17-1-104.”

v. Elder, 2020 COA 163 (Colo. Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 3× “correctional facility, as defined in section 17-1-102, C.R.S., or jail by such public entity; .”

Castro v. Dist. Court of Tenth Jud. Dist., 656 P.2d 1283 (Colo. 1982). “" [3] We do not rule here that a sentencing court is without discretion to grant credit for pre-sentence confinement on a sentence to county jail.”

Hartsough v. State, 762 P.2d 758 (Colo. Ct. App. 1988). · cites it 3× “Sovereign immunity, whether previously available as a defense or not, shall not be asserted by a public entity as a defense in an action for damages for injuries resulting from: [[Image here]] “(b) The operation of any public hospital, correctional facility, as defined in…”

Peo v. Douglas (Colo. Ct. App. 2026). · cites it 3× “” § 17-1-102(1.7), (2), C.R.S. 2016. As relevant here, a community corrections facility could fall within the definition of correctional facility.”

Peo in Interest of EP (Colo. Ct. App. 2025). · cites it 2× “” See § 17-1-102(2), C.R.S. 2024 (defining the “Department” for purposes of Title 17 as the department of corrections).”

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— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 17-1-102(1) — 4 cases

State v. Hartsough, 790 P.2d 836 (Colo. 1990). “[[Image here]] (b) The operation of any public hospital, correctional facility, as defined in section 17-1-102, C.R.S.,[ 2 ] or jail by such public entity.”

Castro v. Dist. Court of the Tenth Jud. Dist., 656 P.2d 1279 (Colo. 1982).

Gabriel ex rel. Gabriel v. City & Cnty. of Denver, 824 P.2d 36 (Colo. Ct. App. 1991).

— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 17-1-102(2) — 1 case

Peo in Interest of EP (Colo. Ct. App. 2025). “” See § 17-1-102(2), C.R.S. 2024 (defining the “Department” for purposes of Title 17 as the department of corrections).”

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