Bent County turns to state legislators to fund, staff jail after another escaped inmate

BENT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Bent County Sheriff Jake Six and the Bent County Commissioners are asking the state for financial help to fully fund and staff the county jail after another inmate escaped.

On Saturday evening, a Bent County inmate and trustee, James Torrez, escaped through a hole in the sheetrock ceiling of a changeout room in the Bent County jail, one he was supposed to be cleaning.

The room was one of the areas of the jail that was waiting to be fixed after four inmates escaped in July 2023. The four inmates were housed in a large cell, or pod as they are known, with other inmates. The pod was a refurbished kitchen, renovated more than 20 years ago, but Six said the space wasn’t completed. While the walls were made of steel, the ceiling was only sheetrock.

The county has already completed more than $400,000 in renovations to improve the security and infrastructure of the jail. However, the room Torrez escaped from wasn’t finished.

While Six said he takes the blame for the first escape due to failed policies, he said this second escape is “100% a staffing and building issue.” 

“In small counties, there's not enough tax base to run facilities the way the state wants us to run the facilities,” Six said.

Six said his jail budget for last year was about $700,000. Combined with the Sheriff’s Office budget, the commissioners said Six is working with about $2.5 million. Six said he has the budget to fill 13 positions but currently only has nine staff members, which is the equivalent of two personnel per shift. Six said he needs four per shift. 

“Whether it's rural communities or large communities, there is a need for additional funding in our jail systems and helping with law enforcement,” said Bent County Commissioner Jean Sykes.

It’s why the county is looking to the state capitol for help. The commissioners said they have been in contact with Republican State Representative Ty Winter and Republican State Senator Rod Pelton. However, the commissioners are concerned there isn’t enough support for rural communities in the legislature.

“They're putting bills together that hopefully will help us or trying to help us find funding, but they're outnumbered,” Sykes said.

“It's not just law enforcement. They just would prefer to ignore rural areas of Colorado,” Bent County Commissioner Alan Stump added.

House Bill 24-1054 is supposed to address jail inadequacies across the state by creating a committee to form jail standards and find ways to fund potential requirements. Those standards, however, will not be enforced until July 1, 2026. Until then, state officials have yet to find the money to fund upgrades on a state level, leaving it to county taxpayers to fully fund jail systems.

State lawmakers previously told KRDO13 Investigates more funding for smaller county jails isn't likely in the cards in the coming years, despite creating a "cash fund" to help jails across the state meet new requirements.

Six and the Bent County Commissioners are optimistic but doubtful the state will provide funding for rural county jails to help meet any potential regulations.

“These theories and ideas sound good and I'm not against improving and trying to make things better,” Sykes said. “However, they come with a price and their price is much greater for those of us who are already skimping every penny that we've got.”

Six is even worried any regulations to come from the committee will only hurt the county more financially.

“One of the main topics is medical and mental health,” Six said of the committee. “If those are unfunded and we have a requirement to do those, we would close the facility. But the state law also says a county our size we have to have this building. So we're kind of between a rock and a hard place.”

Democrat State Representative Judy Amabile, who sponsors the bill to create jail standards, told KRDO13 Investigates the proposed legislation will offer funding assistance to jails to offset the costs of compliance with the jail standards. She also said the committee can offer "extra time or exemption" to small jails to comply with any potential regulations.