When visiting hours start Friday morning at the Denver County Jail, inmates will have their first-ever chance to shed their prison jumpsuits and wear normal clothes while talking with their loved ones.
Inmates will take turns entering the new Goodwill-filled closet in the visitation area and picking out a pair of shoes, pants and a shirt from the racks lined up against the wall. Then they’ll enter private changing areas, secure their uniform and other belongings in nearby lockers and head out to see their visitors.
“This is a momentous occasion for the Denver Sheriff’s Department as we embark on something that’s not been done in any jail in the country,” Sheriff Elias Diggins said during a Thursday morning news conference at Denver County Jail.
Diggins said he was inspired by “Daughters,” a Netflix documentary that showed four daughters reuniting with their fathers inside a Washington, D.C., jail. In that documentary, the fathers were allowed to wear everyday clothes.
He said it made him think about visiting his dad in the Denver jail during his childhood.
“I can tell you that coming into a stark white room … and seeing your parent come out in an inmate uniform is something that you never get out of your mind,” he said, adding that the sheriff’s department is trying to change that.
The new clothing program, the murals adorning the visiting room’s walls and family areas with toys for children to play with, are designed to make the space more comfortable and welcoming.
“This isn’t just a policy change, it’s a culture shift,” Denver Councilwoman Shontel Lewis said at the news conference. “It’s about treating people behind walls like the human beings they are. … When you strip away the jumpsuit, you restore dignity.”
Lewis helped connect Diggins with Goodwill of Colorado last year, kickstarting the program’s formation.
The charity’s Central Park branch, just down the road from Denver County Jail, will supply the sheriff’s department with newly donated clothes throughout the year, expanding the existing closet for inmates.
“When someone walks into the Denver jail to visit a loved one, the experience can be emotional, it can be stressful and overwhelming,” said Sherri Tomerlin, a manager at Goodwill’s Central Park branch. “We recognize that sometimes a thing as simple as clothing can change the tone in the moment. It can bring a sense of normalcy, humanity and dignity.”
Tomerlin said she saw the closet for the first time Thursday morning and it brought her to tears.
“The initiative is especially meaningful to us because the roots start right here in our neighborhood,” she said. “The donations come from neighbors, from friends, from families and directly help people in our whole community.”
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.