Colorado Department of Corrections halts practice that forced inmate to defecate in bucket for 12 days while restrained

In announcing the settlement Tuesday, attorney David Lane said the prison’s then-warden, Matt Hansen, refused to release Jones until he had produced what the prison called a “substantial amount” of feces under its policy for contraband investigations.

The department is also investigating other policy changes regarding “dry celling,” a form of solitary confinement in which prisoners suspected of carrying drugs and other banned substances in their bodies are subjected to 24-hour lights and surveillance and deprived of access to running water.

The lawsuit, filed in December 2020, also named 66 other defendants, all correctional officers or nurses at Sterling Correctional Facility, the largest prison in the state about 120 miles northeast of Denver.

The lawsuit stemmed from an incident Dec. 1, 2018, when six prison workers strip-searched Jones, who had filed many grievances against corrections officers. He was placed in handcuffs and leg restraints inside an unheated cell lacking sufficient water, his lawyer said.

Prison staff refused to loosen his wrist restraints that were secured to a belly chain to allow him to clean himself after defecating, or take a shower, his lawyer said. Feces dried on Jones’ body and caused painful, long-lasting sores.

He was also barred from changing his clothing and could not spend any time unrestrained or lie down during the day, his lawyers said. Jones was held the full 12 days even though he passed a drug test and no contraband was ever found in the bucket.