Laramie County sheriff tables TV show feature offer indefinitely to protect privacy of inmates | News
Publish Date: 2026-07-11 07:00:00
Source Domain: www.wyomingnews.com
CHEYENNE — Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak has decided to table an offer to have the county jail featured on a relatively new reality television program called “120 Hours Behind Bars.”
The show, which airs on popular streaming platforms like Hulu, Discovery Plus and HBO Max, sends a film crew inside county jails and prisons across the country, documenting the lives of inmates, jail practices and the conditions of the facilities.
The show’s description states that “Over five intense days, ‘120 Hours Behind Bars’ delivers an unfiltered look inside America’s toughest jails — where officers are outnumbered, cellblocks are overcrowded and violence erupts without warning.”
Kozak previously told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that producers initially reached out because they heard about the county’s mental health unit that recently started in the jail.
The mental health unit came out of Kozak’s efforts to provide better care for inmates who come into the jail with mental health concerns, for the benefit of both inmates and staff.
An item granting permission to allow the producers in the jail appeared on the Laramie County Board of County Commissioners’ agenda June 16 for approval, but commissioners unanimously voted to delay the decision to the July 7 meeting due to the item being added at the last minute and without public notice.
However, hours before Tuesday’s meeting, the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office sent out a press release detailing Kozak’s decision to table the proposal indefinitely, resulting in its removal from the agenda.
In an interview with the WTE on Wednesday, Kozak said his decision was solely to protect the privacy of inmates.
“I thought about that a little bit more, and that was the reason,” Kozak said. “The inmates are trying to do the right thing, they’re trying to change their lives…
