Colorado State Archives

Executive Orders from the Administration of Governor Bill Owens 1999-2005

OWENS SIGNS BILL WITH ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS ON PROGRAMS FOR OUT-OF-STATE-OFFENDERS

House Bill 1254 is a result of Peyton Tuthill’s 1999 murder by Donta Paige who was sent to Colorado from Maryland for rehabilitation

DENVER – Governor Bill Owens signed legislation today that imposes strict guidelines on how out-of-state offenders are managed in Colorado’s private treatment and rehabilitation programs.

HB 1254, sponsored by State Representative Dorothy Gotlieb (R-Denver) and State Senator Dottie Wham (R-Denver), will require private treatment facilities to register with the state and receive approval for licensing and certification of rehabilitation and treatment programs. It also strengthens current law by making it a felony for an out-of-state offender to enter Colorado without notifying the proper authorities.

Safety issues regarding how out-of-state offenders are managed in Colorado’s private treatment programs came to light last year with the murder of Peyton Tuthill by Maryland resident Donta Paige. Paige was transferred to Colorado from Maryland to receive substance abuse treatment at the Stout Street Foundation. He was sentenced in Maryland to 10 years for armed robbery. A Maryland judge suspended his sentence on the condition that Paige received treatment at the Stout Street facility.

"This is an important piece of legislation," said Gov. Owens. "What happened to Peyton Tuthill should never have happened. This tragedy revealed the inadequate supervision of those private treatment programs that were handling out-of-state offenders. This bill will help to prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future."

During the 1999 Legislative Session, legislation introduced by Gotlieb and Wham became law that required states to notify Colorado officials of offenders being transferred to our state’s private treatment facilities. Because of House Bill 1353, a private community treatment center in Colorado must now notify appropriate authorities before an out-of-state offender can enter our state .

HB 1254, page 2

This year’s legislation (HB 1254) gives the 1999 legislation (HB1353) more teeth by:

• Requiring registration with the administrator of the interstate compact on out-of state parolee supervision,
• Clarifying treatment programs treating out-of-state offenders who are not under supervision of a parole or probation officer, and clarifies the definition of supervised and unsupervised persons;
• Making it a class 5 felony (one to two years plus one year of parole) if a person who is required to have the permission of the administrator of the interstate compact to stay in the state as a nonresident prior to receiving approval by the administrator of the interstate compact; or stays in Colorado as a resident for more than 90 days without receiving the approval of the administrator

The bill also requires programs for out-of-state, supervised offenders to be:

• Approved by the division of alcohol and drug abuse within the Colorado Department of Human Services if the treatment is for alcohol or drug abuse;
• Certified or approved by the Sex Offender Management Board if the offender is a sex offender.
• Certified or approved by a Domestic Violence Treatment Board if the offender was convicted of or the underlying factual basis included an act of domestic violence; or
• Licensed or certified for any treatment or counseling required by the Division of Adult Services in the Department of Corrections, the Department of Regulatory Agencies, the Division of Mental Health within the Department of Human Services, the State Board of Nursing, or the State Board of Medical Examiners.

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