The staff member walked calmly up the stairs at the Phoenix Youth Services Center — a facility in Lakewood housing young people convicted of crimes — and headed toward a 15-year-old who had just thrown a chair at him.
In an interview, Amani Ince described the youth services specialist grabbing him and slamming him into the wall, the impact so forceful it broke a hole in the drywall. The staffer, probably around 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, turned Ince around and slammed him into the opposite wall. Then he took the teen to the ground, Ince said, bashing his head on the floor.
Staff put Ince in handcuffs and, though he said he wasn’t resisting, proceeded to drop him on his face five or six times. The teen said he suffered a hairline fracture on his cheek, large bruises on his ribs, a black eye and a bloody nose in that incident three years ago.
“I’ve been surrounded by murderers, robbers, rapists,” Ince, now 18, said last month from the Lakewood facility. “But the only times I’ve been significantly harmed are by the people supposed to keep me safe.”
The Denver Post obtained a year’s worth of internal Colorado Division of Youth Services critical incident reports, which show rampant allegations of excessive force by staff members at the state’s youth detention and commitment facilities, serious injuries sustained by teens while being physically restrained, a litany of illicit drugs entering secure facilities, and several allegations of staff members engaging in sexual relationships with youth in their care.
The Post’s findings include:
- At least 135 allegations of excessive force, or one every 2.7 days
- At least 47 allegations of staff or family members bringing in illicit drugs, including cocaine and fentanyl
- At least seven allegations that staff engaged in sexual relations with youth
- At least six teens were placed in concussion protocol after hitting their heads while being restrained
- At least five youth suffered broken bones as a result of physical responses from staff
- At least three youth were given naloxone for suspected drug overdoses
These reports, which the division does not release publicly and declined to provide to The Post, do not show the results of subsequent investigations, though some do detail injuries, overdoses, drug possession and other events inside the facilities.
They can be generated by any staff member after witnessing or being told about a critical incident. Along with Division of Youth Services policy, it’s also state law for mandatory reporters, such as DYS staffers, teachers and medical personnel, to report allegations of child abuse or neglect within one hour of it being reported and/or observed.
The Division of Youth Services declined interview requests with leadership for this story. In a statement, division spokesperson AnneMarie Harper said the incident reports reviewed by The Post are narratives of alleged events as they were reported in real time, and that reporting an event “does not necessarily mean it happened.”
The division reviewed the incident reported by Ince and his claims were not supported, Harper said. The staff member remains employed by the state in a juvenile facility.
“While some incidents do occur and are subsequently addressed, the vast majority of incident reports are unfounded both internally and externally,” Harper said in an email, referencing internal state investigations as well as outside probes conducted by law enforcement or county human services agencies.
In its investigation, however, The Post spoke to advocates, former DYS staffers, incarcerated youth and parents who said the state doesn’t have enough information to properly investigate these critical incidents and provides minimal information to outside authorities so it doesn’t raise red flags. A former member of DYS senior leadership, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they still work in the industry, told The Post that the numbers stemming from the reports likely represent an “astronomical undercount.”
“Kids are leaving juvenile detention with broken bones. All over the state, kids are overdosing in juvenile detention facilities, in the very place where we’re supposed to be rehabilitating,” said Dana Walters Flores, Colorado campaign coordinator with the National Center for Youth Law. “Nobody is OK with that.”
Certain staff members showed up repeatedly in the critical incident reports, including one employee accused nine separate times of excessive force. Another staff member was disciplined — but not fired — for hazing other workers by using physical restraints on them as part of an initiation process.
The Post’s reporting comes as DYS data showed a 39% increase in the use of restraint techniques during the most recent six-month reporting period, a disproportionate number of them used on Black youth. Youth-on-staff assaults per month also increased by 64% over the previous fiscal year.
And it also comes as state officials are asking the legislature to increase the number of young people they’re allowed to hold in detention facilities.
In interviews with The Post, teens housed at the state’s 14 facilities say they don’t feel safe. Parents say they’re constantly worried that they’ll get a call one day saying their kids are in the hospital or dead.
“There’s no hope in DYS,” said Chenoa Doudy, Ince’s mother. “It’s hopeless.”
Rampant allegations of excessive force
The reports obtained by The Post, which span December 2023 through November 2024, show a barrage of complaints from youth that staff used excessive force during restraints or other physical management responses at the state’s 14 facilities, which house youth awaiting trial and those who have already been convicted of a crime.
The complaints allege staff routinely used unsanctioned techniques when dealing with young people in their care. Staff allegedly pushed the head of a youth or pulled their hair. Another teen said a staff member punched and elbowed him in the face.
One report states a staff member “slammed him and he lost consciousness and does not remember how he got back to the pod.” The young person was placed in concussion protocol, one of at least six to go in the protocol last year.
Young people suffered broken bones during these responses, the reports show, including broken hands, clavicles, arms and noses. In a three-day span in September, two teens from Aspire Youth Services Center in Golden were hospitalized due to injuries allegedly suffered at the hands of staff.
On May 1, a teen at the Gilliam Youth Services Center in Denver was fighting another youth when he said three staff members grabbed him and slammed him backward three times.
The 14-year-old, whom The Post is not naming because he’s a minor and fears retaliation, hit his head while being slammed to the ground and lost consciousness for 37 seconds. When he came to, he said he heard a staff member say “instant karma.” The other employees laughed.
“It felt like they were trying to send a message to me,” he said by phone from the facility where he’s serving his sentence.
The teen, dealing with a throbbing headache and nausea, said staffers took him to the nurse, who told him nothing was wrong. Despite displaying concussion symptoms, he never went to the hospital.
Another 17-year-old, in an interview, said a staffer struck him with their palm, grabbed and slammed him to the ground during a restraint last year at the Marvin W. Foote Youth Services Center in Centennial. His head bounced off the ground twice, he said.
“Everything went dark,” he said.
After he woke up, staff brought him to his room and shut the door, the teen said. He was never taken to the hospital despite feeling dizzy and nauseous. The next day, staff gave him Tylenol.
“You don’t have to do much to get restrained,” the teen said. “Sometimes it’s about nothing — just the way you stand or the way you’re talking can get you restrained.”
Attorneys for these youth would not provide details of their sentences or the charges that brought them to the facilities. The Post could not independently verify these charges since juvenile cases are sealed.
Multiple youth, in an October report from Marvin Foote, said two staffers “threatened that their restraints are so hard that they are known for putting kids in the hospital and (that they) might not come back.”
In at least one instance, in December 2023, facility staff summoned the on-call doctor after a young person was injured during a restraint but never heard back.
DYS staff members initiated 6,573 restraint techniques between March and August last year, the most recent six-month reporting period compiled by the state. That marks a 39% increase from the 4,720 restraints between September 2023 and February 2024, per state data.
Several facilities saw drastic increases in restraints. The Zebulon Pike Youth Services Center in Colorado Springs reported a 191% spike in restraints from the previous six months. The Grand Mesa Youth Services Center in Grand Junction saw a 113% jump. The Platte Valley Youth Service Center in Greeley reported an 89% leap.
Harper, the DYS spokesperson, said the division is “committed to reducing the use of physical restraint” by conducting debriefings for every incident, including video reviews and discussions, and reviewing data on a daily and monthly basis. Half of the 6,573 restraint techniques used were guided touch (touching the back of a youth’s arm only) or an escort (locking arms with a youth), she said. These techniques, Harper added, prevent the use of more physically restrictive restraints, such as takedowns or handcuffs.
Video often helped substantiate or disprove allegations of misconduct. But several times the video system went down, leaving no evidence available to evaluate a complaint.
Between September and November 2023, the facility server at the Gilliam Youth Services Center didn’t work, impacting the review of 10 critical incidents, reports showed.
But even when video captures an incident, it does so without audio.
The Office of the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman last year called for DYS to add audio capabilities to its facilities in addition to video so staff and authorities can determine whether or not a restraint or physical response is justified.
“Without an audio component, we’re unable to review 50% of the evidence that’s part of these excessive restraint cases,” said Stephanie Villafuerte, the ombudsman, in an interview. “That’s a substantial problem.”
DYS “understands the importance of audio and video surveillance” both for youth and staff safety, Harper said. State officials last year submitted a grant proposal for body-worn cameras for staff in youth centers, but recently heard they had not been awarded funding, she said. The state will continue to pursue funding opportunities, she said, and will implement the cameras if successful.
The ombudsman’s office, over the past two years, received 130 complaints from youth currently or formerly residing in DYS facilities. A quarter of those cases concerned staff misconduct or the misuse of physical restraints. In the issue brief, Villafuerte called for the state to provide data on the number of restraints determined to be justified and unjustified. The report also requested the state count the number of times youth sustain serious bodily injury during a restraint.
In an email, Harper said the ombudsman’s office didn’t raise this issue in the most recent meeting for a work group made up of juvenile justice advocates and state human services officials. Villafuerte said the state still has not provided this data.
Youth-on-staff assaults surge
Publicly available DYS data shows a high percentage of child abuse allegations every year are determined to be unfounded or inconclusive. Seventy-nine percent in 2023-2024 were unfounded or inconclusive. The four prior years all saw percentages above 80.
In fiscal year 2023-2024, county human services or law enforcement investigated 29 child abuse allegations involving detained or committed youth, according to state figures. Six of the claims were determined to be founded.
The former DYS leader said the state, though, will often provide minimal information to human services so it doesn’t raise red flags for them to investigate. The 80% unfounded numbers, this person said, doesn’t jibe with what they’ve seen.
“They would rather keep it in-house to make decisions so nobody knows what’s going on,” this person said.
In addition to staff-on-youth violence, DYS facilities also see considerable assaults by youth against employees. During fiscal year 2023-2024, there were 175 youth-on-staff assaults, or an average of 14.6 per month, per state data. That marks a 64% increase from the prior year’s average of 8.9 per month.
Youth-on-youth assaults per month also increased to 38 per month from 28.8 the previous fiscal year. Those numbers are still substantially lower than prior years when assaults per month topped 40.
Harper, in an email, said most of the youth-on-staff assaults involved the lowest level of attacks that cause minor injuries not requiring medical attention. She also pointed to statistics showing more youth entering DYS facilities for violent and person-related crimes.
“Making sure both youth and staff are safe is the highest priority, and the division has a strong focus on reducing aggressive and assaultive behavior,” Harper said.
Drugs, sex and overdoses
The reports also show the ease in which staff or family snuck illicit drugs and nicotine vape pens into secure facilities. Multiple reports and interviews with teens show family members pay staff via the Cash App, a mobile banking application. Staff then bring in the contraband to give to youth, they allege.
THC and nicotine vape pens showed up the most in the incident reports. But there are mentions of more serious drugs entering the centers, including Percocet, cocaine and fentanyl.
A Feb. 15, 2024, report stated 11 youth at Rocky Mountain Youth Services Center in Lakewood tested positive for THC and/or methamphetamines.
“Youth reported that it is difficult to abstain from substances in the facility as there is a substantial amount of illicit substances entering Platte Valley,” a September report said.
In at least three cases, staff administered naloxone, a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses, on young people suspected of overdosing, the reports showed. This number may be an undercount, since The Post in November reported that at least seven individuals in Colorado youth detention centers were hospitalized following overdose-related emergency calls last year.
A 16-year-old in November died from a fentanyl overdose while serving a sentence in Platte Valley — the first teen to die of an overdose in a Colorado youth detention setting in at least 30 years. The day the teen was found unresponsive, facility leadership received information about staff bringing contraband narcotics into the facility, according to an incident report. Two days later, a separate report alleged that an employee on Oct. 20 provided Percocet, a highly addictive opioid-based painkiller, to the same youth who later suffered a medical emergency and died.
Shortly after the incident, DYS suspended the staff member amid an investigation into the death. The division said it’s waiting for Greeley police to finish their investigation.
Anders Jacobson, the DYS director, told lawmakers last month that the division takes “calculated risks” on contraband by bringing in faith-based organizations, families and other service providers to support youth in their care. But drugs still manage to enter their facilities, much like they do in adult prisons and youth detention facilities around the country, he said.
“If we have to take extra steps to mitigate that risk, we will,” Jacobson said. “But you’ll never extinguish it.”
Lack of staff oversight also led to unsafe situations in Colorado facilities, the incident reports show.
Multiple reports suggest staff did not complete suicide prevention monitoring checks in a timely manner. In September, three kids were hospitalized from the Betty K. Marler Youth Services Center in Lakewood after ingesting a cleaning spray solution. Multiple times, staff allegedly failed to notice young people engaging in sexual contact.
There were also at least seven allegations that staff engaged in sexual relationships with young people in their care.
One staff member, in February 2024, observed another employee rubbing a youth’s hands, leg and thigh under the table. Another report alleged a staff member performed oral sex on a youth in the laundry room.
DYS data shows 38 sexual assault allegations were reported in fiscal year 2023-2024. Of those, six were substantiated and 32 were determined to be unsubstantiated or unfounded. Four of the six substantiated incidents were youth-on-youth, and two involved staff-on-youth assault.
Some of the same staff members showed up repeatedly in the incident reports.
One employee, Stacy Young, had nine excessive force complaints last year, including allegations he pushed youth in the head, picked up a young person and forcibly set them down, slammed a teen’s face into the stairs, and bashed a person’s head into their room door.
DYS personnel files, obtained by The Post through an open records request, show Young has been disciplined three times for misconduct.
In 2023, he was seen taking shots of Hennessy in the facility parking lot with other staff. In February 2024, Young was disciplined for picking up the young person and forcibly putting them down even though there was no emergent situation.
Seven months later, DYS leadership docked Young’s pay for three months after an investigation found he struck a teen in the face. His actions, officials wrote, exhibited a “blatant disregard” for DYS policies and “created an unsafe environment for the youth.”
Young, though, kept his job through December, when he resigned for personal reasons. He could not be reached for comment.
The Post’s revelations come as the state is asking the legislature to raise the maximum number of youth allowed to be detained at any one time.
Under current law, the state can only hold up to 215 youth awaiting trial on a particular day. The Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, alongside a bipartisan pair of lawmakers, wants to up that number to 254 in the next fiscal year. In subsequent years, a formula would determine the maximum bed count, based on the average daily population. The bill, HB25-1146, would also remove the most serious type of felony charges from counting toward the cap.
Prosecutors argue the state doesn’t have enough beds to house violent youth offenders awaiting trial. Since fiscal year 2021, detained youth admissions with violent charges have increased by 49%, and admissions for homicide or manslaughter have risen by 80%, state figures show. As a result, prosecutors say, authorities are forced to release teens who might otherwise be deemed a danger to the public to free up spots for someone else.
Juvenile justice advocates, however, contend the persistent reports of excessive force and drug contraband prove the state should be detaining fewer young people, not more.
“We have a pervasive culture of violence within all our DYS facilities,” said Walters Flores, the National Center for Youth Law coordinator. “We have to reduce our reliance on secure detention in order to bring down these numbers.”
Detention, she said, should be a last resort.
“Colorado is once again starting to lean toward using it as a first resort,” Walters Flores said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“He’s not the same kid anymore”
Parents say they fear for their children’s safety inside Colorado’s youth detention centers.
Carey Snodgrass said after she and her son, Mason, reported an excessive force incident that left him bruised up and down his body, staff began to retaliate against him. They taunt and tease, she said, “poking the bear” so Mason has no choice but to stand up for himself.
Since he entered the juvenile detention center when he was 14, Snodgrass said she’s seen her son change, growing distant from a family he once held close. She declined to provide information on the charges that led him to the facility.
“He’s not the same kid anymore,” Snodgrass said. “You’re literally raising my son and all you’re doing is hurting him. He has so much trauma. He told me he doesn’t want to live. He was always a happy kid — he had a lot of life in him. That life is gone.”
Snodgrass said she sees bruises on her son every time she visits. Mason tells her that’s just what happens in these facilities. It’s his new normal.
“I’m afraid I’m gonna get that one phone call that my kid is dead,” she said.
Doudy, Ince’s mother, said it was hard for her son to reenter the real world last summer after so many years in detention. He’s not being rehabilitated, she said. He’s only being “abused and further traumatized.”
As a parent, Doudy said she feels like she failed her son because she can’t keep him safe. You feel like you’re in there with them, doing the time alongside them, she said. Doudy spends many nights worried when she doesn’t hear from her son.
After five years in and out of detention, Ince reentered the outside world in July. He landed a job within three days at Taco Bell and started volunteering with a mental health nonprofit. He began studying for the SATs and cooking dinner for his family once a week.
But in October, he was arrested again, for armed robbery. Two months later, a Denver judge sentenced him to two years in DYS (the division houses individuals up to 21 years old).
Doudy, a Bible and child photo of Ince clutched in her hands inside the Denver courtroom, told the judge that it’s a “heartbreaking cycle.”
Her son, once again, would be headed for a state detention facility.
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