Skip to content

Failures in Colorado’s courts, mental health system strand hundreds in “vicious cycle” of competency process

More than 400 people repeated treatment in last six years despite being found “permanently incompetent”

DENVER, CO - DECEMBER 4:  Shelly Bradbury - Staff portraits at the Denver Post studio.  (Photo by Eric Lutzens/The Denver Post)
UPDATED:
Charles and Diane Holten pray at the gravesite reserved for their 32-year-old son Patrick at the Cremation Gardens at Rocky Mountain Memorial Park in Aurora on Nov. 29, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Charles and Diane Holten pray at the gravesite reserved for their 32-year-old son Patrick at the Cremation Gardens at Rocky Mountain Memorial Park in Aurora on Nov. 29, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

The Denver Post examines why hundreds of Coloradans cycle through the state courts' competency process over and over again, caught in the failures of the criminal justice and mental health systems.

Subscribe to continue reading this article.

Already subscribed? To login in, click here.

Originally Published: