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,” the department said in a news release. “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. 
 
 Holmes, who is serving 12 consecutive life sentences plus more than 3,000 years extra, was transferred out of state in January 2016, a few months after he was attacked at a maximum-security prison in Colorado in an incident that also injured a guard. 
 
 Holmes was sentenced in August 2015 for the Aurora theater shooting. 
 
 Holmes was housed at the Colorado State Penitentiary, where he was assaulted on Oct. 8, 2015. After moving Holmes out of state, Colorado prison officials refused to disclose where he was being held, causing public controversy and deep concern for survivors and their families. 
 
 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. The deadlock kept the secretive location at status quo. 
 
 At that point, state prison officials would say only that Holmes had been moved to an out-of-state prison to protect his and correctional officers’ safety. 
 
 Theresa Hoover, mother of Alexander “AJ” Boik, an 18-year-old murdered by Holmes, at the subcommittee meeting referred to the non-disclosure as “unconscionable.” 
 
 “I don’t think it’s right,” she said at the time. “I don’t think it’s fair for the victims not to know.” 
 
 Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, the lead prosecutor in the Aurora theater shooting case, said Wednesday night that he hopes Holmes will be back in Colorado. 
 
 “My great hope is he’ll be moved to Colorado in federal custody,” Brauchler said. “He can serve out the remainder of his life under Colorado skies, where he committed his crimes.” 
 
 Brauchler doesn’t want to see Holmes serve his sentence in California, where the inmate’s family lives. 
 
 “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 that the guy who murdered their loved ones, they’ll know where he is,” Brauchler said. 
 
 Brauchler said he’d like to now know where Holmes has been since he dropped off the radar screen. 
 
 “There is no longer any reason for the Department of Corrections to not disclose where he was,” Brauchler said. “I’d like to know what the conditions were.” ||||| DENVER – Federal authorities have revealed that the Aurora theater shooter is being held at a federal prison in Pennsylvania. 
 
 James Holmes is housed in a high-security facility in Allenwood. There are 825 other inmates there, all of whom are male. 
 
 Families of shooting victims were supposed to be notified of Holmes' new location by midnight. They've been fighting to learn his location since he was moved out of Colorado last year. 
 
 “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. 
 
 Fairbairn added the move was made after the high-security facility in Allenwood recently became available and "the move to the Federal prison was secured." 
 
 George Brauchler, the District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District — who announced in April he was running for the governorship in 2018 — said in a tweet he was disappointed that "victims and public have to rely on Feds to provide information hidden by CDOC and @GovofCO (Governor John Hickenlooper)." 
 
 But he wasn't the only one to react to the news. 
 
 Tom Sullivan, the father of one of the victims in the theater shooting, told Denver7's Jackie Crea knowing where the shooter is housed will give families a small sense of relief. 
 
 "This is the person that keeps you up at night. This is what wakes you out of a sleep from remembering the sights, the sounds, the smells from that," Sullivan said. "This would give those parents... spouses, the ability to tell that loved one, 'this is where he is.'" 
 
 The gunman was transferred to an out-of-state prison at the beginning of 2016, but officials did not say where or why he was transferred. 
 
 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. Revealing the location would thwart the purpose of the agreement, the spokeswoman said. 
 
 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. 
 
 The newspaper said they learned of the attack from a letter claiming to be written by the alleged attacker, 27-year-old Mark Daniels. In the letter, Daniels said the assault happened on Oct. 8, 2015. 
 
 Victims of the Aurora Theater Shooting filed a complaint with the Crime Victim Services Advisory Board in June 2016 over the Department of Correction's secrecy with the location of the shooter. 
 
 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. 
 
 The shooter was housed in the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City, where he was heavily supervised. Then he was moved to the San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo, where he had more contact with other inmates. 
 
 The theater shooter is serving life sentences for murdering 12 people and injuring 70 others at the Century 16 theater.
– 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.