GARFIELD COUNTY, CO - A federal judge Wednesday denied the American Civil Liberties Union's motion for an emergency temporary restraining order against Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario that would have given the organization unfettered access to inmates at the county jail.

And in a related development, the county's jail commander announced a new policy that requires inmates to identify their attorney or an organization that is representing them in order to talk to them, ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein wrote in an e-mail sent after the judge's decision.

"Our staff attorney is at the jail today (Wednesday) and tomorrow," Silverstein wrote. "Our hope is that at least more of the prisoners he wants to speak with will now understand that 'trick question' and will know how to answer the deputies' question if they want to speak with an ACLU attorney."

Yesterday's decision by U.S. District Court Judge Walker D. Miller came after a hearing in Denver that began Tuesday regarding ACLU's legal action against the Garfield County sheriff.

The ACLU's lawsuit accuses Sheriff Vallario of hindering attorneys' ability to speak with Garfield County Jail inmates who claim they were abused. Among inmates' allegations are that jail officers abused the use of punishments such as restraining chairs and PepperBall guns, which fire pepper projectiles that cause a severe burning sensation in the eyes, nose, throat and skin.

ACLU attorneys claim they spent Wednesday through Friday of last week at the jail reviewing documents conducting inmate interviews. But they were barred from talking to three inmates when Vallario announced a new policy that barred inmates from talking to lawyers if they did not specifically name the ACLU as their attorneys.

"We wrote letters to those three prisoners after we got back to Denver, and so far we have received replies from two of them," Silverstein wrote. "Both of them say they wanted to speak with us, and they had no idea that giving the correct answer to the trick question was the key to an attorney visit.

"So now the new 'policy' is that prisoners will be asked for the name of their attorney or any group from whom they have sought representation. Who knows what question will actually be asked, because the new 'policy' is not in writing, and the policy is communicated orally from the jail commander to the high-level staff then communicated orally again to the line deputies."