Colorado § 16-8.6-101 - Legislative declaration.

§ 16-8.6-101. Legislative declaration.

(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:

(a) For more than a decade, Colorado has experienced a crisis in responding to individuals in the criminal justice system who are suffering from a mental illness or mental disability and who are determined by a mental health professional to be incompetent to be prosecuted;

(b) Individuals found incompetent to proceed by the court are ordered to be restored to competency through services designed to achieve restoration, which services are provided in an inpatient hospital setting or other community-based setting;

(c) The number of individuals ordered to receive inpatient restoration services has substantially increased over the years. Additionally, the number of beds available for inpatient restoration has been unstable and the lack of adequate staffing has caused many inpatient units to close. This combination has resulted in a long wait list and significantly longer waiting periods in county jails.

(d) Colorado has an obligation to ensure that individuals who are found incompetent to proceed do not languish in jail on a wait list for competency services and to honor the individuals' constitutional right to timely access to restoration services;

(e) Despite the protracted litigation and legislative efforts, Colorado has been unable to eliminate the multitude of problems in the adult competency system, including the wait list, which has increased over one hundred percent in recent years; and

(f) Colorado cannot eliminate the wait list by only increasing the number of inpatient beds; instead, Colorado must seek to reduce the number of individuals placed on the wait list for competency services through:

(I) Community support;

(II) Connecting individuals to a range of community services that provide social stability for individuals who cycle in and out of the competency system; and

(III) Eliminating competency services and prosecution of very low-level offenses, which will reduce the use of expensive inpatient beds.

(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that:

(a) Rather than focusing on competency services to allow for prosecution, Colorado should focus on an individual's mental wellness and social stability, which will enhance public safety, system fairness, and produce better outcomes, along with reducing the inpatient competency restoration wait list; and

(b) Significant research and national best practices support the concept of eliminating restoration services for very low-level offenses and diverting individuals from the criminal justice system who are charged with very low-level offenses and who do not present a public safety risk. The research and national best practices demonstrate that well-designed community programs that focus on mental wellness and social stability can reduce recidivism and move individuals suffering from mental illness or other mental disabilities into a more stable and productive lifestyle.

(3) Therefore, the general assembly declares that it is critical for the state, in conjunction with bridges of Colorado, to require each judicial district to develop a process to identify and refer individuals to a wraparound care program as a community-based alternative to competency proceedings in order to limit the number of individuals on the competency wait list and to improve outcomes and community safety through clinical care and social stability services.

Source: L. 2024: Entire article added, (HB 24-1355), ch. 471, p. 3295, § 1, effective August 7.