Colorado theater gunman moved to new prison
DENVER — Colorado cinema massacre gunman James Holmes was moved on Monday to a prison that specializes in holding convicts with mental-health conditions, and which will allow him to have more contact with other inmates, a prisons spokeswoman said.
Holmes was moved from a transitional lockup to the San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo one day after his 28th birthday, said Adrienne Jacobson, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections.
"He is now in more of a general population setting," Jacobson said. "It's a normal progression move."
The prison, about 100 miles south of Denver, houses about 250 inmates, but not all the convicts have mental-health issues, Jacobson said. She added that Holmes was still considered a security risk because of his notoriety.
Holmes was convicted in July of murdering 12 moviegoers and wounding dozens more during a shooting rampage at a Denver-area multiplex in 2012.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty for the California native, who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but jurors could not unanimously agree the former neuroscience graduate student should be put to death.
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour sentenced Holmes to a dozen consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole, plus a maximum 3,318 years for his conviction on attempted murder and explosives charges.
Following his sentencing, Holmes was housed at the state penitentiary in Canon City, where he had minimal contact with other prisoners.
In October, another inmate attacked Holmes at the Canon City lockup as they passed each while being escorted by prison guards.
Holmes was not injured in the assault, and his attacker, Mark Daniels, would be disciplined administratively rather than in court, prison officials said at the time.
Jacobson said she could not call the latest move permanent because circumstances could change, meaning Holmes might still ultimately be transferred to another Colorado facility, or perhaps out of state.
