Denver City Council on Monday approved a $150,000 settlement with Justin Skaggs, a former inmate who alleged three separate incidents of misconduct in his time at the Denver jail in 2022.
In one incident, Denver Sheriff Department deputies strip-searched Skaggs while looking for a shank, according to a lawsuit filed in 2024. Though he was cooperating, the complaint states, they smashed his head into a wall. Another deputy shocked him with a stun gun “without authority or reason, causing Skaggs unwarranted pain.” And two other deputies failed to turn on their body-worn cameras.
In a second incident, deputies found Skaggs partially asphyxiated in his cell. They moved him to a restraint chair to protect him. While he was strapped down, a deputy “used a handcuff key to stab Skaggs repeatedly in the knee,” the complaint stated…