State Withholds Critical Prison Footage Three Days After Peters Appeal
Three days after a Colorado Court of Appeals panel questioned whether Tina Peters received an unconstitutionally harsh sentence, the state released 10 seconds of surveillance footage from a January 18 prison incident—then refused to release the complete record.
On January 15, Judges Ted Tow III, Craig Welling, and Lino Lipinsky grilled Senior Assistant Attorney General Lisa Michaels over whether Mesa County District Court Judge Matthew Barrett improperly punished Peters for her election fraud claims rather than her crimes. “The court cannot punish her for her First Amendment rights,” Judge Welling stated. The panel questioned Barrett calling Peters a “charlatan” at sentencing and identified a jury instruction error on the felony criminal impersonation charge.
Seventy-two hours later, Peters was involved in a physical encounter with another inmate at La Vista Correctional Facility. The Colorado Department of Corrections released footage to 9NEWS showing Peters’ hands on another inmate’s neck after both women emerged from a doorway. The footage shows approximately one second when both are obscured from view, then Peters pushing the other inmate backward.
What CDOC didn’t release: footage from inside the maintenance closet where Peters’ legal team says the encounter began, or any camera angle showing what happened before both women appeared in frame.
CDOC spokesperson Alondra Gonzalez-Garcia confirmed the department “conducted an administrative investigation that included reviewing surveillance footage.” La Vista maintains cameras throughout the facility. CDOC reviewed footage beyond what it released.
The conflicting accounts reveal what’s missing. Gonzalez-Garcia told multiple outlets “no one was injured.” Peters’ attorneys say she sustained injuries after another inmate attacked her while she filled a water unit in the maintenance closet. Both statements cannot be true.
CDOC moved Peters to different housing after the incident—standard procedure during investigations. The agency claims Peters is not in solitary confinement despite her legal team’s statements that she was placed in “IDO (the hole)” for 24-72 hours and faces a possible felony assault charge.
The timing matters. Governor Jared Polis is considering clemency for Peters, calling her nine-year sentence “harsh” for a 70-year-old first-time offender convicted of non-violent crimes. Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Attorney General Phil Weiser oppose any sentence reduction. President Trump has made Peters’ release a condition for restoring federal funding to Colorado, having already vetoed water project funding and denied disaster declarations.
A 10-second clip showing Peters’ hands on another inmate supports the narrative that she remains dangerous and undeserving of clemency. Footage showing Peters filling a water container when attacked would undermine it. CDOC possesses both. It released one.
If the complete surveillance record supports the state’s account, release it.
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