Limon Correctional Facility

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Limon Correctional Facility
Limon Correctional Facility is located in Colorado
Limon Correctional Facility
Location in Colorado
Location49030 State Highway 71 South, Limon, Colorado, U.S.
Coordinates39°13′05″N 103°41′31″W / 39.217925°N 103.691990°W / 39.217925; -103.691990
StatusOperational
Security classLevel IV (mixed custody: close, medium, and minimum restricted)
Capacity938
OpenedApril 1991
Managed byColorado Department of Corrections
WardenGilbert Caley

The Limon Correctional Facility (LCF) is a state prison for men in Limon, Lincoln County, Colorado, operated by the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC). Opened in 1991, it is a Level IV, mixed custody institution with a rated capacity of 938 offenders, holding a combination of close custody inmates (about 33 percent) and medium and minimum restricted custody inmates (about 67 percent) across six general population units.[1][2]

The facility holds some of Colorado's higher security male inmates and has been the site of several notable assaults and homicides involving both staff and prisoners. It was the focus of the 2009 season of the MSNBC documentary series Lockup.[3]

History

The Limon Correctional Facility opened in April 1991, built during a period of rapid growth in Colorado's prison population that had pushed the state's correctional system beyond its capacity.[1][4]

In 2002, the killing of a correctional officer in the prison kitchen and a series of later assaults focused public attention on violence at the facility. After a 2007 attack in which an officer's throat was slashed, Travis Trani became LCF's warden in 2008, at the time the youngest warden in the Colorado system, and overhauled operations by restricting inmate movement among the six housing units in an effort to reduce gang activity and violence.[5][6] Trani, a Pueblo native, later became warden of the Colorado State Penitentiary and a senior CDOC administrator.[6][7]

In 2019, a campus of the Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary was established inside the prison.[8]

Terry Jaques served as the facility's warden until November 2024, when he introduced Gilbert Caley as his successor and Steven Gossett as the new associate warden before leaving to take office as a Lincoln County commissioner.[9]

Facility and operations

Layout and custody levels

LCF sits on 320 acres about two miles south of Limon and roughly 80 miles east of Denver. Of the site, 36 acres are enclosed by a double perimeter fence about 4,000 feet long. The facility has 13 buildings totaling about 377,400 square feet, including offender housing along with administrative, medical, educational, and work program space.[1][2]

Inmates are held in one of six general population living units, each holding roughly 154 to 160 offenders, alongside a 28-cell restrictive housing unit. Units 1 and 2 hold close custody offenders, and Units 3, 4, and 5 hold medium custody general population. Units 4 and 6 operate as incentive units for medium, minimum restricted, and minimum custody offenders who take part in approved programs.[1][2] The current warden is Gilbert Caley.[1]

Programs

The facility offers educational and vocational programming consistent with CDOC standards, including High School Equivalency preparation, postsecondary coursework through partner colleges, and Career and Technical Education courses delivered through the Colorado Community College System. Behavioral and rehabilitative programs, faith-based services, the "Restoring Honor" veterans' pod, the seminary program, and work assignments through Colorado Correctional Industries are concentrated in the facility's incentive units, where participation is tied to good conduct.[1][10]

Emergency response

As a Level IV facility, LCF maintains trained Emergency Response Team (ERT) and other specialized units that take part in statewide corrections emergencies. During the Crowley County Correctional Facility riot of July 20, 2004, a disturbance at a privately operated prison under contract with the CDOC in which 19 inmates were seriously injured, Limon's ERT was among the teams activated to help retake the facility, with about ten LCF staff deploying to perform inmate retention and security duties.[4]

Incidents

Staff assaults

In October 2002, inmate Edward Montour beat correctional officer Eric Autobee to death in the facility's kitchen, reported as the first killing of a Colorado corrections employee by an inmate in more than 70 years.[11][12]

On September 12, 2007, inmate Allen Thomas slashed the throat of Pam Kahanic, a correctional officer who supervised the facility's industrial sewing program; the blade missed her jugular vein by a fraction of an inch. Kahanic survived and returned to work after recovering, while Thomas was convicted of attempted second-degree murder, sentenced to an added 24 years on top of an existing life sentence, and transferred to another prison.[13][14][15]

On April 6, 2018, inmate Ryan Spear assaulted a correctional officer, causing injuries that required hospital treatment but were not life-threatening; staff subdued him without further injury.[16][17]

In October 2020, an inmate seriously injured a correctional officer with a sharpened weapon, placing the facility on lockdown.[18]

Inmate deaths

In 2015, inmate Joshua Edmonds, who was serving a sentence of 15 years, was strangled and killed at Limon; inmate Chad Wesley Merrill later pleaded guilty to the murder.[19][20]

In 2016, inmate George McClain, 25, was found dead in a housing unit in a death investigated as a homicide.[21]

On August 17, 2023, inmate Arthur Price beat and strangled fellow inmate Paul Hack, 65, in a cell and dragged the body down several flights of stairs; the killing was captured on facility surveillance footage. Price, who was already serving 36 years for a 2013 Arapahoe County murder, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and abuse of a corpse, and in November 2025 was sentenced to an added 41.5 years.[22][23][24]

Contraband and drugs

In May 2021, an inmate died of a fentanyl overdose; a correctional officer was exposed during the response, became ill, and was treated with naloxone. Five guards were later arrested for smuggling narcotics into the facility during 2021.[25][26]

Gang activity

Officials have described gang violence as a recurring problem at Limon; the warden who took over in 2008 cited a rise in gang incidents as a reason for tightening restrictions on inmate movement.[5] The 211 Crew, a white supremacist prison gang based in Colorado that the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as a particularly violent regional gang, has operated within the state prison system, and Chad Wesley Merrill, who killed Joshua Edmonds at Limon in 2015, was associated with the group.[27][20] The 211 Crew drew national attention in 2013 when paroled member Evan Ebel killed CDOC executive director Tom Clements at Clements's home; investigators alleged Ebel may have acted on the gang's orders, though that question remained an open and disputed part of the investigation.[27][28]

Litigation

In 2004, inmate Jeffrey Heird was stabbed to death at Limon on March 28; fellow inmates David Bueno and Alejandro Perez were charged with first-degree murder, and prosecutors sought the death penalty against both.[29] A Prowers County jury acquitted Perez in 2011.[30] Bueno was convicted, but his conviction was later overturned after it emerged that prosecutors had withheld internal Department of Corrections reports identifying other suspects, a violation of Brady v. Maryland.[31]

The CDOC's handling of inmate safety threats was litigated by John Standley Snorsky, who had agreed to testify about the 2015 Limon murder of Joshua Edmonds. After being transferred to the Colorado State Penitentiary, Snorsky was stabbed 43 times by three inmates in February 2017. In 2024 the state settled his federal lawsuit for $1.1 million, without admitting liability.[32][20][33]

In Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez (2020), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against Limon inmate Arthur James Lomax, holding that a dismissal for failure to state a claim counts as a strike under the Prison Litigation Reform Act's three strikes provision whether or not it is entered with prejudice.[34]

In Young v. Colorado Department of Corrections, Joshua Young, a former CDOC corrections sergeant, alleged that a mandatory equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) training created a hostile work environment for white employees and led to his resignation. After a federal district court dismissed the suit, the Tenth Circuit affirmed on March 11, 2024, but was sharply critical of the training and indicated that repeated exposure to such trainings could potentially support a hostile work environment claim. Young filed an amended complaint on remand; the district court dismissed it again, and on May 11, 2026, the Tenth Circuit affirmed once more, holding that a single EDI training, without more, does not meet the "severe or pervasive" standard required for a Title VII claim.[35][36][37]

Department of Justice investigation

On December 8, 2025, the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division notified Colorado governor Jared Polis that it was opening a pattern or practice investigation of all 21 Colorado Department of Corrections facilities, Limon among them, under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The investigation was to examine whether the state failed to provide adequate medical care and safe, sanitary conditions of confinement, along with religious exercise and other concerns. Limon warden Gilbert Caley was among the facility wardens copied on the notice. The department stated that it had not reached any conclusions.[38]

Limon was the focus of the 2009 season of MSNBC's documentary series Lockup, which followed daily life at the prison and documented Warden Travis Trani's efforts to reduce violence. Westword described the facility at the time as a high security prison with "a troubled history of assaults and lockdowns."[3][5]

Notable inmates

  • Robert Charles Browne, a serial killer serving two life sentences for the 1987 murder of Rocio Sperry and the 1991 murder of Heather Dawn Church in the Colorado Springs, Colorado area; he later claimed to have killed dozens of people across several states, though most of those claims are uncorroborated.[39]
  • Freddie Glenn, convicted in the 1975 murder of Karen Grammer, sister of actor Kelsey Grammer; later transferred to the Colorado State Penitentiary.
  • Michael David Whyte, convicted in 2022 in the 1987 torture and murder of fellow soldier Darlene Krashoc near Fort Carson.
  • Douglas J. Alward, a repeat prison escapee. In July 1991 he escaped from custody in Fremont County by overpowering a guard with the help of another inmate, and was recaptured in Oregon after kidnapping a man and shooting at a police officer. In August 2010, while serving a sentence of 20 to 40 years for attempted murder, assault, burglary, and kidnapping, he escaped from the Sterling Correctional Facility through what officials called a secure perimeter, months before he was due to become eligible for parole, prompting a multi-agency manhunt. He was later returned to custody and, as of 2026, is held at Limon.[40][39]

References

  1. "Limon Correctional Facility". Colorado Department of Corrections. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  2. "Correctional Officer I, Limon Correctional Facility". State of Colorado. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  3. "MSNBC's prison-reality show and the death of a pedophile". Westword. November 25, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  4. Colorado Department of Corrections (October 1, 2004). After Action Report: Inmate Riot, Crowley County Correctional Facility, July 20, 2004 (PDF) (Report). Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  5. "Crackdown". Lockup: Colorado, Extended Stay. 2009. MSNBC.
  6. "Pueblo native to head Limon prison". The Pueblo Chieftain. January 4, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  7. "Opening the Door". Prison Legal News. August 30, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  8. Jones, D. L. (July 6, 2022). "The Need for Changing Prison Culture". Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  9. "Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County, Minutes, November 20, 2024" (PDF). Lincoln County, Colorado. November 20, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  10. "Education, Library and Programs". Colorado Department of Corrections. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  11. "Inmate serving life suspected in officer's killing". The Pueblo Chieftain. October 19, 2002. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  12. "Locked and Loaded". Westword. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  13. "Limon prison guard's throat slit". The Denver Post. September 13, 2007. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  14. Mitchell, Kirk (December 20, 2008). "Officer Kahanic returns to prison after attack". The Denver Post. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  15. "Limon prison under lockdown after assault on supervisor". Summit Daily News. Associated Press. September 13, 2007. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  16. "Staff assaulted at Limon Correctional". The Pueblo Chieftain. April 6, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  17. "Officials: CO seriously assaulted by inmate at Colo. prison". Corrections1. 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  18. "Colo. prison on lockdown after CO seriously injured". Corrections1. October 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  19. "Officials suspect homicide in Colorado inmate's death". CBS News Colorado. Associated Press. 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  20. "Nowhere to run: Inmate targeted by prison gangs settles lawsuit for over $1 million". Westword. March 13, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  21. "Inmate death at Limon prison investigated as homicide". CBS News Colorado. Associated Press. 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  22. "Convicted murderer sentenced to additional 41 years after death of fellow Colorado inmate". KKTV. November 22, 2025. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  23. "Convicted murderer sentenced after killing inmate in prison". 9News. November 22, 2025. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  24. "Convicted murderer at Limon Correctional Facility sentenced to 41 more years after killing inmate". Denver7. November 24, 2025. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  25. "Drugs in Colorado prisons and overdoses". The Colorado Sun. December 13, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  26. "Overdoses climb in Colorado prisons and jails as drugs smuggled by mail". Prison Legal News. May 31, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  27. "Slain white supremacist investigated in murder of Colorado prison chief". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  28. "Systemic changes follow murder of Colorado prison director". Prison Legal News. July 10, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  29. "DA seeks death penalty for inmates in Limon prison stabbing death". Summit Daily News. Associated Press. October 19, 2006. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  30. "Man acquitted in fellow inmate's stabbing death". CBS News Colorado. Associated Press. 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  31. "Colorado Supreme Court overturns prison murder conviction, says prosecutors withheld evidence in death penalty case". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  32. Reutter, David M. (September 15, 2024). "$1.1 million settlement for Colorado prisoner stabbed by gang members for testifying about prison murder". Prison Legal News. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  33. "John Snorsky, Colorado Department of Corrections lawsuit settlement". The Denver Post. April 9, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  34. "Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez". Ballotpedia. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  35. "Young v. Colorado Department of Corrections, No. 23-1063 (10th Cir. 2024)". Justia. March 11, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  36. "10th Circuit again dismisses ex-prison employee's challenge to workplace DEI training". Colorado Politics. May 13, 2026. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  37. "Tenth Circuit again rejects employee DEI training-based hostile work environment claims". The National Law Review. 2026. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  38. "Letter regarding investigation of Colorado Department of Corrections and Department of Youth Services". U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. December 8, 2025. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  39. "CDOC offender search". Colorado Department of Corrections. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  40. "Inmate serving decades escapes from Sterling Correctional Facility". Sky-Hi News. Associated Press. August 23, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2026.