Tina Peters is scheduled to be released from a state prison in Pueblo Monday after Gov. Jared Polis controversially commuted the former Mesa County clerk’s sentence last month, cutting it in half.
Peters, 70, has been imprisoned since 2024 for election fraud and official misconduct after she snuck an outside election denier into the off-limits Mesa County Elections Division office so he could copy the hard drive from the county’s voting system. Sentenced to nine years in October 2024, Polis cut her prison time in half on May 15 and made her parole eligible June 1 — today.
“I am writing to inform you that I am granting your application for a commutation,” Polis wrote in the letter to Peters informing her of his decision, setting off a national firestorm of controversy and vitriol.
The order left a number of procedural mysteries, including the precise time she might be released and under what conditions.
High-profile commutations of this sort are not the norm in Colorado, so even law enforcement officials and attorneys who are well-versed in criminal law are scratching their heads over how this release from prison will play out.
Now Peters’ watchers, including the Mesa County officials who helped put her behind bars, are left to wonder what comes next.
Will Peters be able to zip around the country trumpeting her belief that voting systems are corrupt and the 2020 election was stolen? Will she be feted at Mar-a-Lago by a president who holds her up as a hero and demanded her release?
Will she be allowed to maintain a high-profile presence on social media? Will her parole terms be strict enough that she could land back in prison if she violates them? Will there be any significant restrictions on her post-prison behavior?
There are already hints that Peters’ notoriety will only increase following her 19 months in prison.
Her attorneys last week filed an appeal with the Colorado Supreme Court attempting to wipe her record clean. They argue that she was only carrying out her federal duties as an election official when she took measures to preserve election records.
Dan Rubinstein, the Mesa County district attorney who successfully prosecuted Peters, said that in most serious parole cases for crimes prosecuted by his office, he and other law enforcement officials would typically have the opportunity to provide input on whether parole should be granted and on the restrictions a parolee would face upon release. But not in this case.
Questions linger
The Colorado Parole Board, made up of nine people appointed by Polis over the past three years, did not respond to questions about Peters’ release.
Typically, people eligible for parole attend a hearing before the board to determine if they are good candidates for parole.
In Peters’ case, no board approval is needed for parole so the board will only need to set conditions for her release. But it’s not clear how those conditions will be set or if her case will be discussed or mentioned in the public portion of the board’s next meeting, which is scheduled for today. Peters’ name isn’t on the agenda.
The parole board website does not offer any answers. It has no information about how commutations are handled compared with normal prison releases.
The La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, where Peters is being held, did not respond to phone calls asking for information about how a commutation is handled differently than a normal release from prison. Neither did the Grand Junction Parole Office, which would be in charge of monitoring her if she resettled there.
Mesa County Attorney Todd Starr is in the dark about whether Peters might return to Grand Junction. She still owns a home on a bluff above the city.
If she does come back, Starr said she is already prohibited from having any contact with county election workers, court officials, or with any witnesses who testified against her during her trial.
“Right now, our workers and witnesses are still protected through the criminal case,” Starr said. “You can rest assured that Mesa County will be taking appropriate steps to protect our workers if she comes back here.”
Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Bobbie Gross said some of her workers fear Peters because of her history of skirting legal restrictions. Before her trial, Peters was caught communicating with her former clerks after a court order to have no contact with election workers. She also showed up uninvited at an election night meal, stunning a roomful of county workers and volunteers into silence.
Peters’ popularity with the election-denier crowd nationally is only expected to grow upon her release. Already, a small band of Peters’ supporters has been holding a vigil and waving flags for her outside of La Vista.
From inside the prison, Peters has already been signaling a return to election activism by vowing on online forums to support prison reform and “election integrity” upon her release.
Fan suppport
Outside the prison, supporters have been on watch for Peters’ release for weeks, holding vigils and livestreams with self-proclaimed “J6ers” and other supporters as recently as Saturday.
On at least one occasion, a person inside the prison, who appears to be Peters, has communicated back, waving from a second-floor window just inside the barbed wire fence of the Pueblo prison complex.
Online, donations are being raised to support Peters’ post-prison life and legal bills, with websites touting her as a hero finally coming home.
“From Gold Star Mother to Political Prisoner: Stand with Tina Peters,” reads “Truth Matters,” a website at tinapeters.us. “A Widow, an Elected Official, and a Whistleblower who honored her oath to the Constitution — now silenced for standing for truth.”