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# Federal Drug Possession Sentences in the District of Colorado, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-possession-sentences-district-of-colorado/
- Published: 2026-11-04T11:09:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T11:09:47.000Z
- Description: Of 28 people sentenced for drug possession in the District of Colorado in fiscal years 2016 to 2024, 19 (68%) received probation only and 8 (29%) received a prison term. For all 94 districts, 68% were sent to prison. The median prison term in Colorado was 1.7 months, compared with 6 months for all d
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Federal Sentences in the District of Colorado, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-district-of-colorado/) › Drug Possession: District of Colorado

**In brief:** Of 28 people sentenced for drug possession in the District of Colorado in fiscal years 2016 to 2024, 19 (68%) received probation only and 8 (29%) received a prison term. For all 94 districts, 68% were sent to prison. The median prison term in Colorado was 1.7 months, compared with 6 months for all districts.

Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 28 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. It is part of the [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## Probation Was More Common Than Prison

The 28 people in this group were sentenced in the District of Colorado for drug possession offenses. Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 19 people (68%). A prison term went to 8 (29%).

In all 94 districts, the pattern was reversed: 68% were sent to prison. Colorado used prison less often for this offense type than the national figure shows.

## Short Prison Terms

Among the 8 people sent to prison, the median prison term was 1.7 months. A quarter received 7.8 months or more, and a quarter received 0.8 months or less. For all districts, the median was 6 months.

The median for all offenses in the District of Colorado was 36 months. Terms in this table are sentences imposed, not time in custody.

## One Primary Guideline

"Drug Possession" is a category set by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. In Colorado, §2D2.1 (Unlawful Possession) was the primary guideline for 23 of the 28 people.

These cases were less than 1% of the 4,231 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.

## All Pleaded Guilty

All 28 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. All guilty pleas had a written plea agreement. In all districts, more than 99% pleaded guilty.

With no trials in the group, there is no trial figure to compare with the plea figure.

## Sentences Within the Range

The Sentencing Guidelines produce a range for each case. The records show this for 23 of the 28 people. A sentence within the range was given to 20 of them (87%). A sentence below the range at the government's request was given to 2 (9%), and 1 sentence (4%) was above the range. No sentence was below the range without a government request (0%).

For all districts, 90% of sentences in this offense type were within the range. For all offenses in the District of Colorado, the figure was 36%.

## Fines and Other Terms

A fine was ordered for 17 people (61%), and restitution for 1 (4%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 5 people (18%), with a median term of 12 months.

A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 27 people with that information recorded (4%). In criminal history, 57% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 9% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

## Counts by Year

The district sentenced 20 people in this offense type in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 8 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025\. The count was 11 in 2018 and 1 in each of 2020, 2021, and 2022\. Several years show "n/a" for the median, which means no median could be given.

These counts are too small to show a trend.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 4                | 1.7 months    | 4 of 4         |
| 2017        | 3                | 0.4 months    | 3 of 3         |
| 2018        | 11               | 1 months      | 100%           |
| 2019        | 2                | n/a           | 2 of 2         |
| 2020        | 1                | n/a           | 1 of 1         |
| 2021        | 1                | n/a           | 1 of 1         |
| 2022        | 1                | n/a           | 1 of 1         |
| 2023        | 3                | 24 months     | 3 of 3         |
| 2024        | 2                | 12 months     | 2 of 2         |

## Limits of the Comparison

Only people who were convicted and sentenced are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data.

Buckley SFB, Fort Carson, Peterson SFB, and the U.S. Air Force Academy appear in the court-martial data on this site and are in this district. A court-martial is held in a military court, not this federal court, and the records do not link the installations to these cases.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the District of Colorado (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Colorado") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Drug Possession" (28). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.

Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30\. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.

### What to Keep in Mind

**No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct.** Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987\. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.

**Federal supervised release.** Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.

**Who decides the sentence, and under what rules.** Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.

**Time periods.** Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.

**How life sentences and "time served" are counted.** In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.

**Mandatory minimum sentences.** Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.

## Related Analysis

- [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [Federal Sentences in the District of Colorado, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-district-of-colorado/) (overview)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the District of Colorado, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-district-of-colorado/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the District of Colorado, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-district-of-colorado/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the District of Colorado, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-district-of-colorado/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the District of Colorado, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-district-of-colorado/) (same district, other offense type)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)

**About the author.** Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts *Where All The Bodies Are Buried* and runs the [Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.