Special Litigation Section

DOJ Opens Investigation into Colorado Department of Corrections and Department of Youth Services

In December 2025, we opened an investigation of 21 facilities operated by the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC), and 12 facilities operated by the Colorado Department of Human Services Division of Youth Services (DYS), pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997, Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 34 U.S.C.§ 12601, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc.  The DOC investigation will address allegations of inadequate medical care, and unsafe and unsanitary physical conditions of confinement.  The DYS investigation will address allegations of use of excessive force and failure to provide adequate nutrition.  The investigation will also address the alleged violation of prisoners’ and detainees’ right to the free exercise of religion when Colorado houses biological males in units designated for females.

Contact us:

• Email Community.ColoradoDOC@usdoj.gov
• DOC - Call toll-free number 1-888-394-8116
• Email Community.ColoradoDYS@usdoj.gov
• DYS -  Call toll-free number 1-888-394-2523
• Mail us a letter:

Attn: Colorado DOC or Colorado DYS Team
Department of Justice, Special Litigation Section, Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

DOJ Files Complaint against the State of Louisiana Challenging its Unlawful Pattern and Practice of Overdetention

On December 20, 2024, the Justice Department filed a Complaint against Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections alleging that the state’s pattern and practice of detaining people after they have fully completed their sentences violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.  The lawsuit follows the Department’s investigation that began in December 2020 and resulted in a findings report issued on January 25, 2023 (view a one-page summary of the findings).  The investigation found that overdetention was routinely occurring within Louisiana, resulting in thousands of people held past their legal release dates each year.  The lawsuit alleges that despite knowing about this overdetention problem for over a decade, Louisiana officials have been deliberately indifferent and failed to take reasonably sufficient steps to correct the systemic deficiencies causing overdetention.  In its Complaint, the Department seeks injunctive relief to remedy this pattern or practice of constitutional violations that has affected thousands of people throughout the state.  Read a one-page summary of the Complaint. 

The investigation and lawsuit are a combined effort of the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Middle, Eastern, and Western Districts of Louisiana.

Individuals with information regarding overdetention in Louisiana can contact the Department via phone at 1-833-492-0097 or by email at community.louisianadoc@usdoj.gov.

DOJ Releases Findings Report Detailing Violations of Children’s Rights in Five Secure Facilities Run by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department

On August 1, 2024, the Justice Department completed its pattern or practice investigation of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD). We found reasonable cause to believe that TJJD violates the constitutional and federal statutory rights of children in its five secure facilities. These facilities include Evins Regional Juvenile Center, Gainesville State School, Giddings State School, McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility, and Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex. Specifically, we concluded that:

• Protection from harm. Children are often exposed to excessive physical and chemical force. They also spend prolonged periods of time in isolation under stark conditions and without access to adequate services. And they endure sexual abuse.
• Mental health care. Children do not receive adequate mental health assessments, treatment planning, and counseling. TJJD also fails to provide adequate substance use disorder treatment and treatment for children who engage in self-harm or have suicidal thoughts.
• Special education. Children with disabilities do not receive a free appropriate public education. Special education services are not individualized; fail to include specially designed instruction, behavioral supports, related services, and transition services; and are based on outdated evaluations.
• Disability discrimination. Children with disabilities do not receive reasonable modifications to complete programs required for release, prolonging their time in TJJD’s custody or resulting in their transfer to adult prison. They also do not receive an equal opportunity to benefit from education.

The full report is available online in English and Spanish, along with a summary in English and Spanish.

The Justice Department welcomes your ideas about reforms. To contact us:

• Email TX.Juveniles@usdoj.gov;
• Call (866) 432-0438 (voicemail only); or
• Mail a letter:

Attn: Texas Juvenile Justice Department Team
Department of Justice, Special Litigation Section, Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530