Wynn Howell, Colorado state director for the Working Families Party, speaks at a rally in support of a lawsuit over coerced prison labor outside the Denver City and County Building on Oct. 7, 2025. (Photo by Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
A trial began Tuesday in a class-action lawsuit alleging Colorado is failing to comply with a 2018 constitutional amendment that banned involuntary labor in state prisons.
The case, Mortis v. Polis, was brought in Denver District Court by progressive legal advocates on behalf of two inmates who say the Colorado Department of Corrections is violating the law by punishing incarcerated people who refuse to participate in mandatory work programs. Judge Sarah B. Wallace granted class-action status for the case last year…