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Advocate tells Arapahoe County commissioners jail command staff retaliated, limiting communication
Summary
At the April 8 Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners meeting, a local homeless outreach director said she filed multiple internal affairs complaints alleging retaliation and refusal to allow her client to communicate with supporters; she urged County Attorney Ron Karl and the board to take notice.
Regan Benson, executive director of Helping Hands for Dignity Coalition, told the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners on April 8 that she has filed multiple internal affairs complaints alleging retaliation by command staff at the county jail and described what she called improper restrictions on her client's ability to communicate.
Benson spoke during the public-comment portion of the meeting. "I do have to say I'm disappointed," she said, adding that she had written to the board and received no response. She asked County Attorney Ron Karl to "please pay special attention to my public comment" and said the board and the county attorney have a responsibility regarding potential civil rights lawsuits stemming from actions by jail command staff.
Benson said she has followed internal complaint processes "respectfully" but that "command staff continues to retaliate on my client." She alleged an "illegal suicide hold" and said jail staff were preventing her client from communicating with supporters. "He has a right to communicate," she said.
Benson also raised budget and service concerns, saying taxpayer dollars are being spent on mental-health and connectivity resources in the jail that, in her view, are not being delivered. She urged commissioners to use their budgeting authority to press the sheriff on whether funded services are operating as intended.
The remarks were part of public comment; no formal board action or response is recorded in the meeting minutes or the transcript. Benson described filing multiple internal affairs complaints but did not provide specific investigation outcomes during her remarks. The county attorney and commissioners present did not take formal action on the item during the meeting.
Because Benson's statements were verbal public comments rather than formal filings presented to the board at the meeting, the transcript does not show any immediate direction, assignment, or vote by the board in response. The allegations reflected in this report are her assertions to the commission at the April 8 meeting.
