DISTRICT COURT, THE CITY OF DENVER, STATE OF

COLORADO

Court Address:
520 W. Colfax
Denver, CO 80204

Plaintiff:
State of Colorado

v. COURT USE ONLY

Defendant:
Elijah Israel Martinez
____________________________________________________
Case Number:
Attorney for Defendant: 2020CR000264
Jason Flores-Williams
1851 Bassett St. 509
Denver, CO 80202
Reg. No. #49702
303-514-4524
JFW@JFWLAW.NET

MOTION FOR REVIEW OF JAIL CONDITIONS

COMES NOW Elijah Martinez, by and through counsel, and moves this

Honorable Court to review conditions in the Denver Jail pursuant to its wide-ranging

discretion and authority to oversee the legal system per Article III and the 8th Amendment

to the United States Constitution. A hearing in the above cause is set 8:30 a.m. January

15, 2021 in which Mr. Martinez respectfully prays that the Court allow him to make a

record with regard to conditions in Denver Jail.

Current Conditions in the Denver Jail

We are facing one of the darkest hours of the pandemic. Reasonable people

understand that institutions are being stressed beyond capacity and that expectations must

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be lowered in accord. However, they ought not be lowered to the point of implicating the

8th Amendment and the civil rights provisions of 42 USC §1983.

The epidemic is raging out of control in the jail with a majority of inmates—

presumed innocent—testing positive or for exposure. For those not currently positive or

determined to have been exposed, they are being kept in segregated isolation with seven

or eight other inmates and allowed out for only one hour per day. An inhuman situation

in which rights are being violated in favor of the pandemic and to which the United States

Supreme Court has recently spoken:

“Why have some mistaken this Court’s modest decision in Jacobson for a

towering authority that overshadows the Constitution during a pandemic? In the end, I

can only surmise that much of the answer lies in a particular judicial impulse to stay out

of the way. But if that impulse may be understandable or even admirable in other

circumstances, we may not shelter in place when the Constitution is under attack. Things

never go well when we do.” Honorable Justice Gorsuch, United States Supreme Court,

concurrence in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York v. Andrew M. Cuomo,

Governor of New York, 592 U.S. ____ 2020.

Current conditions in the jail violate the 8th Amendment (and Sec. 20 of the

Colorado Constitution), so that an analysis by this Honorable Court is warranted:

“It is unquestioned that ‘[c]onfinement in a prison . . . is a form of punishment

subject to scrutiny under the Eighth Amendment standards.’” Rhodes v. Chapman, 452

U.S. 337, 345 (1981) (quoting Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678, 685 (1978)). “Conditions

[in prison] must not involve the wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain, nor may they

be grossly disproportionate to the severity of the crime warranting imprisonment. . . .

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Conditions . . . , alone or in combination, may deprive inmates of the minimal civilized

measure of life’s necessities. . . .” Id. 452 U.S at 347.

Everything else in our Courts, if not society, is being rethought, save for jail and

conditions that will determine how we, as a society, are judged during this challenging

time. Dostoevsky wrote, “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by

entering its prisons.”

Wherefore, as the institution that safeguards the rule of law, which in turn governs

the degree of our civilization, Defendant prays that this Honorable Court entertain a

review of current conditions in the jail at the next hearing scheduled January 15, 2021.

Respectfully Submitted,

s/Jason Flores-Williams
Jason Flores-Williams
1851 Bassett St
Denver, CO 80202
Reg. No. #49702
303-514-4524
JFW@JFWLAW.NET

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that the above pleading was filed via the Colorado Courts e-filing system
causing a copy to be served upon all current parties of record on this date of January 5,
2021.

s/Jason Flores-Williams
1851 Bassett St.
Denver, CO 80202
303-514-4524
JFW@JFWLAW.NET