Status: Active, opened in 1999

Location: Sterling, Colorado

Address: 12101 Hwy 61, Sterling, CO 80751

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 6000
Sterling, CO 80751

Phone Number: 970-521-5010; inmates cannot receive phone calls           

Fax Number: 970-521-8225; inmates cannot receive faxes

Offender Gender: Male

Security Level: Close, Medium, Minimum

Warden: John Chapdelaine

Facebook Page

Number of Staff: 542

Distinguishing Feature:  Sterling Correctional Facility houses Colorado’s death row inmates, but there are only three death row inmates.    

Sterling Correctional Facility is a level V facility housing inmates at different custody levels.  The inmates’ custody level and behavior while in the facility determine whether inmates are eligible for various prison programs.  Though it does not house the state’s death chamber, Colorado’s death row inmates are housed at Sterling until just prior to their execution.  This was the result of a lawsuit by an inmate who claimed that the Colorado Department of Correction’s failure to provide exercise facilities for death row inmates was unconstitutional, which prompted the state to move the three death row inmates to Sterling, where they had the ability to secure the exercise facilities for those inmates.  

The inmate population at Sterling Correctional Facility is varied, because the prison holds prisoners ranging from minimum security to the state’s small death row population.  The fact that there are only three death row inmates at the prison does not mean that the prisoners are not dangerous, but is simply a reflection of the low number of death row prisoners in the state, overall.  A number of the prisoners are convicted murderers or have histories of violent assaults. 

Sterling Correctional Facility is gaining a reputation as one of the most violent prisons in Colorado because of a recent series of murders and assaults at the prison.  This violence does not appear to be the result of having a particularly violent population, but may be due to failure to manage the prisoners properly and a virulent problem with the 211 Crew gang of white supremacists.  In 2014, two members of the 211 Crew, one who was incarcerated for an attempted murder and the other incarcerated for murder, murdered another inmate who was serving a life sentence for crimes including the rape of a fellow inmate.  This murder occurred in a high-security closed-custody setting, though none of the three was in maximum security.  Another inmate was killed the same year after being placed in a cell with an inmate who had a known history of assaulting and raping other inmates and even strangling a fellow inmate to death.  That inmate had a history in the Arizona prison system, which recommended that he not have a cellmate because of his history of assaulting cell mates, however he was placed in general population and given a roommate, whom he eventually beat, strangled, and asphyxiated.  These were just two of the six murders that occurred within Sterling in a four-year period. In fact, Sterling had 2/3 of the inmate murders in the whole Colorado Department of Corrections.

Many inmates at Sterling Correctional Facility are eligible for a variety of prison programs, which include the standard GED programs, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, and behavioral modification programs.  However, Sterling Correctional Facility also places an emphasis on workforce readiness, and inmates are allowed to participate in programs where they can get education, training, and practical experience in the following fields: computers and electronic systems, food production, welding, masonry, carpentry, construction, and heavy equipment operation.

Sterling Correctional Facility also participates in the Colorado Correctional Industries Prison Trained K-9 Companion Program which performs two functions.  First, prisoners can train people’s dogs in a four-week intensive behavioral program.  Second, prisoners can train rescue dogs for adoption by the public.  These dogs go on to be family pets, assistance dogs, or therapy dogs for nursing homes and other skilled medical facilities.  Inmates train these dogs, gaining skills to use after incarceration, and also earning wages for their work.  Inmates who successfully complete the program are able to become certified in Canine Behavior Modification.

Sterling Correctional Facility has had a troubled history.  It is highly associated with prison gang violence and the 211 Crew, a white supremacist prison gang, is believed to be highly active from the prison.  Evan Ebel, the suspected murder of state prisons chief Tom Clements, was a 211 Crew soldier who is believed to have committed the murder acting on the orders of the gang’s shot caller, who was incarcerated at Sterling Correctional Facility.  Even while confined, the gang leader was able to orchestrate drug deals, order assaults and hits, and enforce gang rules both inside and outside of the prison, and much of this seemed to be the result of inadequate supervision of his incoming and outgoing mail.  Other problems are related to the prison guards and prison policies.  For example, prison employees were once able to hire inmates to do work on their homes, which had the prisoners out of the prison without adequate supervision and also, at times, violated the state’s provisions on the value of labor an inmate could perform.  Sterling has also had some environmental challenges, including water with a uranium level exceeding safe standards, which it handled by importing safe drinking water in for the prisoners. 

There are no nationally famous inmates at Sterling Correctional Facility, but it is one of the hubs of activity for the 211 Crew, a prison gang that is affiliated with the Aryan or White Supremacist movement.