Updated at 8:50 am on March 20, 2026
More than 690 Colorado children were held in juvenile detention beyond when a judge determined they could be released last year — mostly because state officials couldn’t figure out where they should go, according to a class action lawsuit filed Thursday by civil rights and disability advocates.
Advocacy lawyers allege that leaders at the Colorado Department of Human Services have known for decades about the problem of where to place youth who were detained because they were accused of a crime, but have been allowed to be released pending court appearances. These are youth who aren’t able to go back to their homes, for whatever reason, including welfare or family problems.
A number of these kids, all of whom are between 10 and 18 years old, also have disabilities and mental health disorders, which the lawyers say are exacerbated when they’re in restrictive and punitive detention facilities for months beyond when they could have been released, according to the lawsuit.
It was filed in federal court against Gov. Jared Polis and CDHS Director Michelle Barnes on behalf of two boys detained for months beyond when they were eligible to be released.
Lawyers from the ACLU of Colorado and Disability Law Colorado, among other national advocacy groups and law firms, acknowledged throughout the 56-page complaint filed in federal court that the issue has been intractable for decades and that state officials have openly acknowledged that kids are incarcerated when a judge had said they could be released.
“Report after report confirms these problems remain unaddressed,” the lawsuit said.
A report commissioned by a task force appointed by then-Governor John Hickenlooper in 2018 found that “the lack of sufficient alternatives to detention in the community result in inappropriate placements.”
That same report confirmed that kids “with significant mental health needs … often end up in detention due to a lack of alternative placements,” according to the lawsuit.
The advocacy lawyers on Thursday also acknowledged that the services, the resources and the actual number of physical beds available to the youth — who cannot be released from jail to the streets upon posting a bond, like an adult can — is severely limited to the point of being impossible to stay on top of the problem.
There are a limited number of foster beds, there are limited treatment options for kids suffering from trauma or mental health disorders and there are very specific sets of needs for youth — particularly those who have pending welfare cases, who have long been in foster care or have existing mental health or physical disabilities.
The complaint itself succinctly describes some of the challenges this group of accused offenders, which number in the hundreds, can pose for state supervision. In one sentence, the suit complains that youth in detention are subjected to onerous and repetitive strip searches, while in the very next paragraph, the suit notes that drugs, overdoses and overdose deaths are a major problem in the facilities.
A March 2026 report from Disability Law Colorado reported evidence of as many as 15 suspected overdoses in 2025 alone. In 2024, a 16-year-old died of a fentanyl overdose at the Division of Youth Services facility in Greeley.
Lawyers say the burden is on the state to figure all of this out and to stop violating federal laws by holding vulnerable youth in detention for longer — sometimes far longer — than they should be.
And they say it’s unacceptable that the number of releasable youth being detained is actually increasing. In the fiscal year 2024-2025, 693 youth in secure detention facilities were held after a court deemed them releasable. That is up from 2022-2023, when 540 youth were held beyond when they were deemed releasable.
“Once a juvenile court judge enters an order that a detained child is releasable pending certain conditions, the responsibility falls to defendants and their sub-agencies to follow this order, meet the conditions and timely release the youth from detention,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants have failed to create any meaningful statewide procedures or guidelines as to how detained youth should receive … services.”
Lawyers also alleged that keeping youth in punitive juvenile detention facilities causes harm — it prevents them from adequately participating in their own defense after an alleged crime was committed, it impedes communication with attorneys and causes compounding psychological harms and risks to youth who are already living in the vulnerable margins of society.
“Detention threatens to harm the academic futures of incarcerated youth,” it said. “There is overwhelming evidence that incarcerated youth perform below their peers in the community academically.”
The lawyers don’t seek to release the class of kids in this situation from detention.
Rather, they’re asking that state officials make such release possible by developing the legally required procedures, placements and services that are required to allow the youth to be released, the lawsuit said.
A statement from the Colorado Department of Human Services said officials there won't comment on pending litigation. But, the statement said the department strives to balance public safety with the needs of youth being held on criminal charges.
"By law, youth who are accused of committing a crime remain in detention under court order and are only released when the necessary court-mandated placements or services, such as treatment, GPS monitoring, or residential placement, are available to manage those risks," the statement said. "The youth stays under (Division of Youth Services) care until at least all court-ordered requirements are fulfilled and the court authorizes their release."
The suit was filed on behalf of Isaac N., a 17-year-old, and Tony S., a 12-year-old. Both boys were charged, but not yet adjudicated, for delinquency offenses.
Juvenile court judges determined that both boys were releasable, yet both have remained in detention for months past that time. Both have been diagnosed with various health problems. Isaac has both post-traumatic stress disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Tony has autism.
Tony and Isaac both wish to be in community or home-based settings while they await their criminal proceedings in juvenile court. Lawyers representing them say they’re being harmed while being in detention, pre-trial.
“Youth placed in juvenile detention facilities are at high risk of physical harm while detained, including violence and abuse,” the lawsuit said. “Colorado’s youth detention facilities have a well-documented history of such harms.”
This story was updated Mar. 20, 2026 to add comment from the state Department of Human Services.
