Police arrested a homeless Calvin Harris, 46, in August after he allegedly threatened two Denver postal workers with a baseball bat when they told him to remove his belongings from the post office property.
Before his felony-menacing case could begin in district court, Harris — who has a lengthy history of schizophrenia and anxiety disorder — waited two months for state evaluators to determine that he was competent to stand trial.
Frustrated with that wait and other complications that have delayed a trial or plea agreement, Harris said he’s eager to have the case behind him and get on with probation or prison so he can get into treatment.
“The hardest thing about the wait is you’re not getting any help,” said Harris, who is now taking medication. “It’s dangerous to sit in jail.”
A court compromise announced Monday means hundreds of mentally ill people accused of crimes in Colorado each year could spend less time waiting for state doctors to determine whether they’re ready for trial — and to provide treatment if they’re not.
The settlement, thought to be the first of its kind in the country, stems from a 2011 lawsuit against the state Human Services Department that alleged some defendants have waited up to six months — longer than their likely sentences — for competency determinations.
On behalf of the Legal Center for People With Disabilities and Older People, Denver attorney Iris Eytan argued in U.S. District Court that defendants’ rights to due process were being violated in the state in U.S. District Court .
“(The agreement) is totally comprehensive. We’re not going to see that unfortunate languishing in jail anymore,” said Eytan, who credited the state for working quickly to settle the case. “This is not going to be easy for them to do.”
All people accused of a crime are guaranteed the right to understand the charges against them and participate in their own defense. Those with mental illnesses sometimes require treatment before they meet that level of competency.
Since 2000, the number of people needing those state evaluations has more than doubled to 1,062, even as budgets and resources shrink.
Under the agreement, doctors will examine defendants housed at the state mental hospital in Pueblo within 24 days on average from the date of a court order. For defendants housed in jails, doctors get up to 30 days.
Similar time limits apply to providing treatment to mentally ill defendants.
“We are committed to providing timely, high quality mental health services and this agreement reflects that,” Department of Human Services director Reggie Bicha said in a statement.
The settlement follows years of tug of war between a cash-crunched state and advocates for mentally ill defendants.
A 2006 lawsuit resulted in a court order to reduce wait times for evaluations. But when the order expired in 2009, those wait times grew once again.
The new agreement runs for up to 10 years and will roll out in phases. Douglas, Arapahoe, Boulder and Pueblo counties begin working under the new deadlines July 1.
Denver’s deadlines go into effect Jan. 1, 2013.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson supported the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the state. He said Monday he’s looking forward to seeing the deadlines in action.
“In county jails, we’re not always equipped or prepared to provide that treatment or care,” Robinson said.
He estimated that nearly one in four — about 22 percent — of the inmates in his jail on any given day are suffering from a mental disorder.
Wait times for competency evaluations aren’t uncommon across the country, though the length of Colorado’s appears to have been more extreme than many, said Diane Smith Howard, staff attorney for the nonprofit National Disability Rights Network.
No other state puts a time limit on when evaluations must be completed, the way Colorado’s new settlement does.
“This is the first case we are aware of that requires the state to abide by strict timelines for evaluations,” Smith Howard said. “It’s a big deal because Colorado can lead the way in this area.”
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
