A jail death in Denver raise questions about intake policies — and how a man with a violent history kept getting released early

On June 30, deputies from the Denver Sheriff Department responded to an overnight call for help in the agency’s Downtown Detention Center.

They found a man — later identified as 34-year-old Vincent Chacon — unresponsive in his cell, where he was pronounced dead, the police said in a news release. Police investigators later said the red marks found on his neck were consistent with manual strangulation.

The suspect arrested in connection with Chacon’s death was his cellmate, a 38-year-old man named Ricky Roybal-Smith, who was later connected with twin fatal stabbings that took place in Aurora the day before. To date, Roybal-Smith remains uncharged in the jail death case, which is still under investigation, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office…

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