A class-action lawsuit has been filed in federal court on behalf of 154 Colorado prisoners seeking millions of dollars in compensation on a claim that they were cheated out of good time and held too long.
The lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of Arlene Rosetta-Rangel and numerous other current and former inmates who accuse the Department of Corrections of failing to credit them for good behavior.
The lawsuit, which seeks attorney’s fees and compensatory and punitive damages, is very similar to a class-action suit filed more than a year ago in federal court by the law firm of Killmer, Lane and Newman.
Attorney David Lane said their case, Ankeney versus Colorado, has been appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court and once it is decided, thousands of inmates encompassed by the lawsuit could be immediately released from prison or parole.
The Rosetta-Rangel lawsuit filed by attorney Blake Embry is different because it seeks to include the names of scores of inmates who have already been released from prison, Embry said.
But Randal Ankeney, a former attorney named as lead plaintiff in the Lane lawsuit, was released from prison in 2013.
Embry said he intends to file a motion consolidating his case with the Ankeney case.
His lead plaintiff, Rosetta-Rangel, should have been released on May 5, 1999, but wasn’t released until 839 days later, in part because a judge didn’t credit her for serving 180 days in jail before she was even sentenced, according to the Embry lawsuit.
Brian O’Connell, another plaintiff in the lawsuit, is being held at Delta Correctional Facility, but should have been released on Oct. 30, 2011 if he was awarded “good time” deductions of 10 days per month since his 2006 conviction, the lawsuit says.
“The direct causation of the breach by CDOC causes inmates to miss funerals of loved ones, marriages of their children, civil court dates, and due to a lengthier (term) than is mandated, the loss of parental rights, among many other demonstrable losses incurred due to CDOC’s malfeasance,” Embry’s lawsuit says.
Although the lawsuit does not specify the exact amount of damages, Embry estimated that damages will run into the millions of dollars because it affects hundreds of inmates.
Inmates who committed more serious crimes and received lengthier prison terms would stand to gain the most from the lawsuit because they were denied more earned time.
Violent offenders can receive 10 days of earned time a month while non-violent offenders can receive 12 days of earned time a month.
Embry seeks compensatory damages, “including damages for emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other pain and suffering on all claims allowed by law in an amount to be determined at trail from all defendants named in their individual capacities.”
Embry said he is getting about a dozen letters a day from inmates wishing to join his lawsuit.
But Lane said because his lawsuit was filed first, it would automatically incorporate thousands of inmates and parolees in the class if he wins the appeal.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
