Suit Alleges Delays In Treatment Of Colorado Inmates
DENVER (AP) - Colorado detainees found incompetent to stand trial sometimes wait up to six months be transferred to the state's mental hospital, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Wednesday.
The lawsuit filed against the state's Department of Human Services and the state's mental health hospital in Pueblo alleges that "presumptively innocent men and women are languishing in Colorado jails," either waiting for a court-ordered competency evaluation or to be transferred to the mental hospital for treatment.
"In some cases, the delays for evaluation and admission for restorative treatment have resulted in confinement of pretrial detainees for periods longer than they otherwise would have been confined for the alleged offense," states the lawsuit filed by the non-profit Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People.
Liz McDonough, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services, said the agency is reviewing the lawsuit but could not comment on pending litigation. The Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit cites several cases of inmates in state county jails who, attorneys say, have been deemed unfit for trial and that courts have referred for treatment but who have continued to wait in jail for months before being admitted to the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo. The lawsuit also alleges that sometimes weeks go by before an inmate receives a court-ordered evaluation to determine their trial competency.
"A jail cell is the absolute worst place they could find themselves," said Iris Eytan, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the non-profit group.
The lawsuit wants a judge to declare that inmates' constitutional due process rights are being violated and seeks an injunction calling for state officials to receive a competency evaluation within seven days of a court order, and that detainees be transferred to the state hospital within seven days of an evaluation declaring them unfit for trial.
Eytan said 55 inmates who have been found unfit for trial are currently on a waiting list for admission to the hospital. But Eytan said that's just the number for those who have already been evaluated and referred to the hospital for treatment and that many more could be in need but waiting.
The lawsuit states that jails don't have the resources of a mental hospital, with psychiatrists, social workers and nurses, to properly care for mentally ill inmates. The lawsuit includes an affidavit from Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson, who said the state delays in evaluating and treating mentally ill inmates "imposes a substantial burden on the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, both in terms of personnel and financial resources."
Robinson said it costs his jail an average of $68.30 per day to house an inmate, but that the costs can be double for mentally ill detainees.
In 2006, Eytan's law firm filed a lawsuit with similar allegations against the state Department of Human Services and the state mental hospital. Eytan said part of the settlement required the state to provide her firm with monthly reports and information about how long mentally ill inmates were waiting in jails before receiving treatment.
The settlement expired when the state hospital opened a 200-bed facility in June 2009.
"The problem has mushroomed. We don't know how many there are that are waiting months and months at the jails," Eytan said.
- By Ivan Moreno, AP Writer
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
