Colorado Trump ally Tina Peters became a hero to conservatives who questioned the 2020 election results.
Leftist officials made her pay dearly for exposing what she believed was election fraud.
And Tina Peters' lawyer just just revealed the horrifying assaults she’s endured inside Colorado prison.
Trump ally serving 9 years for preserving election records
Tina Peters, the 70-year-old former Mesa County Clerk, sits in a Colorado women's prison serving a nine-year sentence for what her supporters call an act of patriotism.
A state jury convicted Peters in August 2024 on seven charges including attempting to influence a public servant and conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation.
Her crime? She allowed an unauthorized person to access Mesa County's voting systems in 2021 while trying to preserve election data she believed showed fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Peters became a conservative folk hero after the 2020 election as one of the few election officials willing to risk everything to investigate voting machine irregularities.
She attended conferences with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and other election integrity advocates, where she presented her findings about potential vulnerabilities in Dominion Voting Systems machines.
The establishment came down on her like a hammer.
Colorado officials prosecuted Peters with the full weight of the state behind them, and a judge sentenced the grandmother to nine years behind bars despite her having no prior criminal record — not even a parking ticket.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded Peters' release, calling her an "innocent Political Prisoner being horribly and unjustly punished."
Violent attacks rock Colorado prison
Now Peters' attorney Peter Ticktin has revealed the nightmare his client faces behind bars.
In a shocking letter to President Trump dated December 7, Ticktin detailed a pattern of violent attacks and death threats against Peters inside La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, Colorado.
"About 6 months ago, Mrs. Peters was threatened with harm. Her life was threatened by a group of inmates, to stab her and to kill her," Ticktin wrote.¹
The FBI and Department of Justice sent agents to interview Peters after she reported the threats, and prison officials moved her to a different unit.
But the violence didn't stop.
"In the new unit, she was attacked by other prisoners three times in different locations where guards had to pull inmates off of her," Ticktin revealed.²
Prison guards had to physically intervene on three separate occasions to stop fellow inmates from beating the 70-year-old grandmother.
Peters applied six times to be transferred to a safer unit within the prison specifically designed for inmates who don't cause problems.
Prison officials denied every single request "without a valid reason," according to her attorney.
Instead, Peters remains in what Ticktin describes as the smallest cell in her unit — a former laundry room measuring just 3 feet by 7 feet that she shares with another inmate.
The cramped cell has a black mold infestation, and Peters can barely move around due to degenerative spine conditions.
Making matters worse, prison officials force Peters to take drug tests late in the evening, a process that takes hours and requires her to sit on cold cement floors while battling a chronic cough.
Peters had a third of one lung removed in 2016 due to lung cancer surgery, yet prison officials refuse to provide her anything more than a 2-inch thick mattress despite having 40 unused 4-inch mattresses in storage.
"Of course, prison is a horrible experience for anyone, but it is worse for those who are innocent and wrongfully prosecuted," Ticktin wrote to Trump.³
Judge blocks Peters' release while controversial pardon push continues
Peters filed a federal lawsuit seeking release on bond while her appeal works through Colorado's court system.
On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott Varholak rejected her request, ruling that federal courts must stay out of pending state criminal cases.
"Ms. Peters raises important constitutional questions concerning whether the trial court improperly punished her more severely because of her protected First Amendment speech," Judge Varholak acknowledged.⁴
But the judge said those questions must be answered by Colorado courts first before federal courts can intervene.
Peters' legal team is making an unprecedented argument — that President Trump has the constitutional authority to pardon her despite her state-level conviction.
Attorney Ticktin argues that the Constitution's reference to pardoning "offenses against the United States" historically included individual states, not just federal crimes.
"We have one country, and it is called the 'United States,'" Ticktin wrote, making the case that presidential pardon power extends to state prosecutions.⁵
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, dismissed the argument as having "no precedent in American law" and called it "an outrageous departure from what our constitution requires."
But Ticktin believes the question deserves consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court, especially given that Peters may be a critical witness in ongoing federal investigations into 2020 election security.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, also a Democrat, has flatly refused to pardon Peters, saying he won't participate in "any scheme to prevent her from being held accountable under Colorado law."
Trump has called Polis a "sleazebag" and accused him of allowing Colorado to "go to hell" while imprisoning a grandmother for preserving election records.
The Trump administration requested that Colorado transfer Peters to federal custody, but state officials shot down that request in November.
Tina Peters represents the only Trump ally currently serving prison time for actions related to 2020 election concerns.
Her prosecution sends a chilling message to any election official who dares to question the integrity of voting systems or investigate potential irregularities.
¹ Peter Ticktin, Letter to President Donald Trump, December 7, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Scott Varholak, Order Denying Habeas Corpus Petition, U.S. District Court of Colorado, December 9, 2025.
⁵ Peter Ticktin, Letter to President Donald Trump, December 7, 2025.
