Individuals with behavioral health disorders in the Colorado criminal justice system will be getting renewed attention in the coming legislative session.

The six-member Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal Justice System convened on Monday to appoint task force members and discuss subcommittee recommendations for five new bills it plans to introduce in 2025.

The committee and 31-member task force plan to address areas of concern such as the state’s lack of a designated entity to oversee and enforce youth offender case management plans, pre-trial deflection programs that would keep youth out of the criminal justice system, incentives for hospitals to keep patients beyond the initial 72-hour mental health hold and changes to the not guilty by reason of insanity plea. 

The committee, chaired by Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, has historically sent bills with high price tags to the Colorado General Assembly in 2023, asking for $55 million over three years. The biggest state cost is $45 million for a crisis response system within the Behavioral Health Administration.

Before adjourning, the interim committee agreed it would set plans to craft and introduce five bills, one from each of its subcommittees: youth, crisis systems and services, not guilty by reason of insanity, systems, and competency subcommittee. 

Some of the subcommittees’ recommendations that may be incorporated into future bills include changes in language that would specify who has direct oversight of youth case management plans, the criteria for such oversight, and the possible inclusion of postpartum in the existing statute for not guilty by reason of insanity plea. 

The criminal justice system is the state’s largest behavioral health provider. For example, data from the Department of Corrections show that as of Dec. 31, 2021, over one in three people who are currently justice-involved (4,640 people) have a mental health need, according to a stakeholder publication by the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration.

The committee is scheduled to reconvene on Aug. 14.