The wait for competency evaluations and restoration services is postponing court cases, delaying help for prisoners and costing taxpayers millions.
for two days in late September, roughly 450 people were locked up in county jails who aren't supposed to be there — waiting to be transported to the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo for inpatient competency services.
"During that time, the inmate was throwing feces and urine at jail staff and would yell profanities nonstop at the deputies," Kelly remembers."These types of situations not only affect the safety of the inmate, but have a dramatic effect on the morale of our jail staff." District Attorney Brian Mason of the 17th Judicial District, which covers Adams County and Broomfield, notes how "jail is not supposed to be a mental health treatment facility" but often is for many judicial districts.
"We're seeing some of the longest delays that I've ever seen in my career, and I've been working at the DA's office for almost seventeen years now," Mason says."There are 22 judicial districts in the state of Colorado. The state hospital's inefficiency and inability to do its job is impacting every single judicial district in the state. And we, as a collective group of elected district attorneys, are all concerned about this.
"Ultimately, if you've got a defendant who's sitting in custody longer or as long as that sentence could be for their case — or even after a year of getting evaluations for somebody who's not competent [and] can't be restored — we're just going to dismiss those cases?" Kellner asks."We're not able to actually get people treated or attempt to restore them to competency before a clock runs out? Now, that's wrong.
When defendants are locked up in jail for an extended period of time instead of being treated and seen by state doctors, it can have a drastic effect on both their mental and physical health, according to DAs and mental health experts. "We are not always privy to the reasons behind why the Boulder County Jail is not accepting some arrests, but we have been informed that some of the reasons for the arrest restrictions are due to a backlog of people waiting to go to the state hospital," Redfearn confirms."We are no longer able to take some people to jail, and thus we don’t have as many tools in our possession to disrupt someone’s criminal behavior.
To make matters worse, Johnson says,"there have been assaults on deputies and mental health staff that include physical attacks as well as getting spit on." He and his staff feel"helpless in these situations, as what they need is treatment, not isolation, for up to a year waiting for admission." — is a classic example of cases being"dramatically and directly impacted" by the continued delays in the state hospital system and why in-house solutions are ultimately needed across the board, according to DA Michael Allen of the 4th Judicial District.
In Denver, the DA's office and Sheriff Elias Diggins are attempting to tackle the hospital crisis head-on with a"people-first approach," according to Diggins, which is aimed at getting inmates the help they need while they're waiting to go to Pueblo or Fort Logan. "This docket is aimed at addressing inadequacies in the mental health system, with the main goal being to find alternatives to incarceration for persons going through the competency process," says the Denver District Attorney's Office in an online description.
People who qualify for the district's competency diversion program must have non-violent records and"eligible charges," according to the DA's office and sheriff department."We're obviously not going to admit someone for competency diversion who commits an aggravated robbery with a gun," Bell says."But for lower-level offenses, if you've been previously found incompetent, you will be eligible to be screened.
Diggins says he believes that"leading with humanity" and compassion is something that can go a long way to mitigating the state hospital challenge, while also providing specific services for people who are affected. But Sheriff Jackson notes how smaller communities, such as those in the 12th District, just don’t have the resources or monetary support that places like Denver do. “We lack in funding,” Jackson says. “We just do not have the funding — we just don’t. Most of that is based on property taxes.”to resolve one of the jurisdiction's most gruesome murder cases.
Kelly echoes Mason's sentiments."We have been told repeatedly that the state hospital is experiencing a staffing shortage," she says."As far as I am aware, that is the only cited cause of CMHHIP’s utter failure as a state organization. This explanation is unacceptable, and represents, in my opinion, a complete failure of leadership at CMHHIP."
"Even if we had all the staff that we need at the state hospital in Pueblo, we would still need more beds," Johnson says."There's still a huge bed shortage." The issues with delays and backups have been grabbing headlines since 2011, when the nonprofit group Disability Law Colorado sued CDHS over the state hospital's mounting problems. The two parties eventually reached a settlement, which led to the 2019 consent decree.
"The idea that the state — the taxpayers — are paying around $12 million in fines every single year because of this problem, with no end in sight, it's absolutely unacceptable," Kellner says.
"Despite a federal lawsuit and a crisis this state has known about for eleven years, it appears that — at some level — the state is deliberately indifferent in addressing mental health progress and is instead comfortable with the current situation," Karbach says."Forget competency," Karbach says. "Let's talk about legit mental health care. We have a crisis but keep finding money to keep people in jail. ...
"Our office believes that finding that someone is permanently incompetent should then allow for treatment," says 20th Judicial District spokesperson Shannon Carbone."It is the right thing to do for the person and for the community." CDHS and the OCFMH team agree that the state's leaders must work on solutions; the agencies have already started meeting with officials to try and get ideas off the ground.
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