Editorial: For Mentally Ill, Justice Fails Again
(Denver Post)
September 16, 2011
PUEBLO, COLORADO– [Excerpt from Inclusion Daily Express] The news of a lawsuit alleging unconstitutional delays in evaluating mentally ill inmates by the state hospital in Pueblo is enough to leave Coloradans with the disoriented feeling that they're in a time warp.
How many times must the courts be called in to protect the rights of this state's mentally ill? How often will budgetary pressure be cited as a reason for apparent neglect?
"You can't use the budget crisis to justify violating people's constitutional rights. You don't dump the problem on the most-disenfranchised population in Colorado," exclaimed defense attorney Iris Eytan. "You fix it. You saw this coming. We sued you five years ago."
In response to that earlier legal action, the state agreed to provide mentally ill inmates in county jails with competency evaluations within 28 days of a judge's order. But Eytan and others maintain the state abandoned the terms of that deal in recent years.
As a result, they say, inmates who need an evaluation may languish for months behind bars before they get one. Only then, if they're found incompetent to stand trial, will they finally get the treatment they require.
Entire editorial:
Editorial: For mentally ill, justice fails again
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_18887501
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