Tina Peters grabbed another inmate’s neck and shoved her during a brief prison scuffle Sunday night, according to surveillance footage that appears to contradict claims from Peters’ defense attorney.

The footage, obtained by The Denver Post on Monday night, shows Peters, an ally of President Donald Trump and former Mesa County clerk, maneuvering a large cart toward a closet through an open room. Peters then enters the closet, with the cart at the closet’s entrance. Another inmate, who appears to be carrying cleaning supplies, then enters the frame and appears to try to move the cart away from the closet door.

As the other woman moves the cart aside, Peters then emerges from the closet, grabbing the woman and shoving her into the middle of the room. Peters has one hand on the woman’s neck and another on her right arm, the video shows. The two then seem to exchange words, and Peters shoves her away.

Peters is obscured from video footage when the scuffle first starts. The other inmate is visible throughout most of the incident, save for a brief moment where part of her right arm is obscured by the closet door.

Both women later walk down a hallway. The video was provided to The Post in response to a public records request.

In a statement Monday night, state Corrections Department spokeswoman Alondra Gonzalez-Garcia confirmed that Peters “was involved in an incident with another inmate” Sunday night. No one was injured, she wrote. No one has been charged as a result of the scuffle, and Peters was moved to a different housing unit in the prison. Neither inmate was placed in solitary confinement, which is not utilized in that facility, Gonzalez-Garcia wrote.

The department is still investigating, she said.

The video and the department’s statement seemed to contradict claims from Peters’ supporters and defense team, who alleged in a news release that the former clerk was “assaulted” in the closet and that she now faces criminal charges as a result. One of Peters’ attorneys, Peter Ticktin, told Trump ally Steve Bannon on Monday that Peters was attacked “from behind.”

Peters was sentenced to a combined nine years in jail and prison in October 2024 after she was convicted of several crimes for providing third-party access to election systems. Her incarceration has become a cause celebre for Trump and conservative allies, who allege that Peters was wrongfully convicted. Trump, who issued a legally dubious federal pardon for Peters late last year, has repeatedly demanded that Colorado and Gov. Jared Polis release her. Peters is appealing her conviction, and a state appeals court signaled some skepiticism about the length of her sentence last week.

Polis has said he is considering a request to release Peters or alter her sentence. He has called her sentence “harsh” and “unusual.” Pressed by reporters last week, he refused to say if he’s discussed the case with the Trump administration. He denied that he’d discussed releasing her as part of a trade for restored federal funding or other considerations. Several state officials — including Attorney General Phil Weiser, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and a group of county clerks — have asked him to leave Peters’ sentence in place.

A copy of Peters’ inmate file, also obtained through a records request, shows she had a mixed first year in prison. Between April and July 2025, she received four write ups, prompting prison officials to reject her application for a special unit. Parts of the file are redacted, though visible negative writeups appear to be related to minor issues, like loitering or “hiding.”

She told prison staff in August that she would soon be released, according to the file. In December, after officials told her she would not be released to visit her mother in the hospital, she said she planned to have “negative things” about the prison “plastered all over social media.”

_________

©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.