DENVER, July 22 (UPI) — At least 141 inmates in Colorado who claim to be innocent are unable to fight for freedom because evidence has been destroyed, The Denver Post reports.

Colorado has one of the weakest state laws in the country on preservation of evidence, The Denver Post reported. District attorneys and police appear to be taking advantage of a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that police cannot be held responsible for negligent destruction of evidence.

In Arizona vs. Youngblood, the justices reinstated the conviction of a man who denied raping a boy. Semen stains on the victim’s underwear were not tested until they were too old to provide useful information given the technology of the time.

Now, many inmates are barred from taking advantage of DNA testing because the evidence no longer exists.

In Colorado, Clarence Moses-El is serving a 48-year prison term for rape. He lost a chance to use DNA evidence to try to establish his innocence because the evidence in the case — boxed with a label that said “Do Not Destroy” — was thrown into a dumpster in 1995.