Standoff between judge and state hospital over mentally ill inmate
Re: “Wakeup call for state’s mentally ill,” Dec. 7 editorial.
I applaud The Post’s position on the mentally ill.
Due to resource issues, our state hospitals struggle occasionally to be responsive to individuals such as Eugene Zuniga.
The state hospitals are complemented by numerous community mental health centers throughout the state. These centers serve many thousands of consumers annually, including those discharged from hospitals and, as pointed out, thousands more have been identified as needing treatment but are unable to gain access due to resource issues and budget cuts.
My grandfather died in a Illinois mental facility in 1921. There were not enough beds back then nor sufficient community support for these individuals who needed treatment upon discharge. Eighty- five years later, some things seem sadly but strangely familiar. The Colorado system is a solid care system. I can attest to this. I worked in the Illinois and New Mexico systems before coming to Colorado.
As a retired former executive director of a Denver metropolitan community mental health center in the 1980s and early 1990s, I hope the legislature will continue to take up this difficult issue and follow the lead of The Post’s editorial by supporting additional money for the mental health system.
Thomas Machiorletti, Broomfield
Re: “State standoff on mentally ill,” Dec. 6 news story.
District Judge Martin Egelhoff has the wrong culprits in his sights. According to the news, he is considering fining or imprisoning the director of the state mental hospital in Pueblo and/or holding the executive director of the Department of Human Services in contempt of court. He really should be looking towards Gov. Bill Owens and the legislative branch as the determiners of budget priorities and for their support of the ridiculous sentencing requirements and imprisonment of minor drug offenders.
It was interesting to note in Owens’ last budget proposal that he recommended that the incoming legislature continue to increase Department of Corrections spending for new prisons and encouraged the legislature to not mess with sentencing guidelines. Who really is the right person to be held accountable for the sorry state of affairs in Human Services?
Jim Hidahl, Denver
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Sadly, in the absence of adequately funded mental health services and treatment, many people with mental illnesses find themselves housed in our corrections system. Local jails have become large, public psychiatric hospitals, and many of those incarcerated have committed only minor, non- violent offenses.
Treating people with mental illness in our corrections system is expensive and, sometimes, could be avoided if treatment were available in the community. Why is it that a defendant must wait in jail here in Denver to have an evaluation that must be conducted more than 100 miles away? Couldn’t funds dedicated to this evaluation process be distributed to individual communities around the state in order to quickly and efficiently assess the accused?
Policymakers and taxpayers must understand that the cost of treating mental illness is unavoidable. The important decision is how we pay for it. By paying for preventive measures such as proper medication and treatment and investing in community-based services, society can avoid the greater price of increased hospital care costs, reliance on correctional facilities, homelessness and even suicide.
Colorado’s mental health care system is fractured in many, many ways. Budget cuts, access to care and increasing needs are among the many things that need to be addressed. The Mental Health Association of Colorado believes these needs can start being met in our communities through prevention and treatment. It’s a matter of time, of money and of fairness to all those affected by a system that is overburdened and underfunded.
Jeanne M. Rohner, President and CEO, Mental Health Association of Colorado
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