The Pueblo Chieftain: A breakthrough for CMHIP?
It’s been a long legal battle and it isn’t over yet. However, a new agreement holds promise to dramatically cut or eliminate the backlog of cases the state hospital in Pueblo has had for criminal defendants with mental health issues.
Disability Law Colorado, a Denver-based advocacy group, filed a lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Human Services almost eight years ago, alleging the state agency wasn’t moving quickly enough to provide mental treatment to defendants awaiting trial on criminal charges.
The law requires that mentally ill defendants be found competent before criminal proceedings against them can move forward. In some cases, defendants have had to wait months before receiving the treatment they needed to be sufficiently competent.

