The primary contact for this legislation is:
Peggy Heil
Office of Research and Statistics
Colorado Division of Criminal Justice
700 Kipling Street, Suite 1000
Denver, CO 80215
Phone: 303-239-4172
For the full bill text, click here:
https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/Data/Data_Instruments/HB1297/HB19-1297-Documentation.pdf
Background
House Bill 19-1297 enacted in May 31, 2019 requires county jails to collect information regarding their facility
and inmates and report this information to the Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ) on a quarterly basis. The
statute may be found at : https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dcj-ors/jail-capacity-data-collection
Due Dates
Submissions are due the third Friday of the first month of each quarter (January, April, July and October), with
the first report due January 17, 2020.
If a jail fails to submit a report within thirty days of the due date, the Executive Director of Public Safety is
mandated to notify the jail that they are not in compliance ( C.R.S. 17-26-118(4)(c) ).
Data Submission Format
DCJ has created an Excel Spreadsheet which contains the items mandated by HB19-1297. The spreadsheet can be downloaded at: https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/Data/Data_Instruments/HB1297/Jail Capacity Template
Please name your submission file County-Quarter-Year.xlsx. For example: Phillips-Q1-2020.xlsx.
Where to Send Submissions
Submissions can be emailed to cdps_dcj_hb1297@state.co.us
Questions about the reporting requirements or problems reporting may also be sent to this address.
Data Collection Timeframes
There are three timeframes for data collection:
1) As of the first day of the reporting quarter (January 1, April 1, July 1, October 1). These data items are a
snapshot count on the first day of the reporting quarter.
2) Using the previous 365 days/12 months. These data items use the 365 days or 12 months prior to the
1st day of the reporting quarter.
3) Since the last report quarter. These data items cover the three-month period prior to the 1st day of the
reporting quarter. For example, the report due in January would cover the previous October to
December for these data items.
See Table 1 below for which data items use each time frame.
Who Is Considered an Inmate
For the purposes of this reporting requirement an inmate is defined as:
"Confined Inmate" means an inmate under the supervision of a jail facility, including an inmate who is in
transit to or from a facility, appearing in or in transit to or from court, held for other jurisdictions, in a
hospital or other medical institution for treatment but would otherwise be housed in the jail facility, in a work
release program but returns to jail at night, or in a community-based program but returns to jail at night.