The Colorado Department of Corrections on Wednesday said James Holmes, sentenced to life in prison for murdering 12 people and wounding dozens of others, has been transferred to federal prison. “The State sought to place the inmate in the Federal System several months ago, but placement required finding space at a facility that could provide appropriate security,” said Mark Fairbairn, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Corrections. “That space recently became available and the move to the Federal prison was secured.” 
 
 Late Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Prisons had not announced where Holmes was transferred. Early Thursday morning, Holmes’ location was updated to USP Allenwood, a high-security federal prison in Pennsylvania, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate tracker. But the Denver Post found out the transfer was the result of an assault from another inmate as they were both passing in a hallway at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City. In June 2016, after two hours of debate, the Department of Public Safety’s Victims Rights Act Subcommittee split 3-3 over whether the Colorado corrections was breaking the law by refusing to tell theater shooting victims of Holmes’ location. A committee ruled in April 2017 prisons should have done more to inform the victims' families of the theater gunman's secretive move to an out-of-state prison. At the time, a Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman said the move was part of an agreement with another prison to exchange inmates, which can happen for a variety of reasons.
– Aurora theater shooter James Holmes is being held at a high-security federal prison in Pennsylvania, the Colorado Department of Corrections has announced following a nearly two-year effort by victims and family members to get the information. Months after Holmes was assaulted in October 2015, he was moved from Colorado State Penitentiary to San Carlos Correctional Facility, then to an unnamed facility out of state. On Wednesday, officials revealed Holmes was "recently" moved to a federal facility with "appropriate security" when a spot opened up. That facility is USP Allenwood, where he's kept with 825 other male inmates, reports the Denver Channel. "I'm pleased that after all these many, many months of obfuscation by the state government here that these family victims are finally going to get the peace of mind, knowing [the location of] the guy who murdered their loved ones," Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, who was lead prosecutor in the shooting case, tells the Denver Post. But he's still curious to know where Holmes has been, and what kind of conditions he's experienced, since the recent move to USP Allenwood was allowed to take place. He's also holding out hope that Holmes will be back in Colorado before long so he can serve his 12 consecutive life sentences near the spot where he killed 12 people and injured 70.