Iraq War Army veteran Robert Lantz was headed home to Iowa this spring, after spending five years homeless and in and out of jail in Colorado Springs.
He spent his final 14 months in town in the El Paso County jail on low-level charges such as trespassing, and during that time his competency to go through the justice process was called into question. Those declared incompetent are deemed incapable of understanding the court process or assisting in their own defense.
Lantz described himself at that time as deeply depressed and unable to really talk to other people. While living on the streets, he relapsed into drug and alcohol abuse.
Through the relatively new 4th Judicial District competency court, a specialized court liaison, forensic navigator and community partners worked to get him into residential treatment in Hot Springs, S.D., through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Defendants in Colorado on average were waiting about 91 days for inpatient treatment at the end of May with 270 defendants on the list, according to a report filed with the courts. Veterans, such as Lantz, sometimes qualify for additional treatment options for residential care.
Eight weeks of residential treatment with outings and classes in South Dakota, followed by a roughly six more months of treatment at Valor Point VA Domiciliary in Lakewood, “restored” him, Lantz said.
The competency court staff “going above and beyond what their job description entails,” made the difference, he said. “I am appreciative.”
The VA treatment gave him coping skills to manage his mental and physical health and connected him with other veterans.
During his almost seven years in the Army, Lantz was deployed in 2005 and 2007 and served as a rifleman. His family told him he came back changed, he said.
Following the treatment, his Bridges of Colorado Court Liaison Michelle Wolf noted he was transformed again.
“He is more confident, open, and above all happy,” she said. Wolf said she worked with a team of people through the details of getting Lantz into treatment, such as obtaining a plane ticket and ensuring he had clothes. She was one of the people who drove him to the airport.
Starting up new courts
The Office of Civil and Mental Health has partnered with 10 judicial districts to support and co-create competency courts around the state, said Jordan Saenz, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Defendants like Lantz are referred to competency courts, and not everyone going through the competency process are referred to the dedicated dockets.
It is one of several steps the state has taken to reduce the amount of time people spend in jail in the competency process, either waiting for evaluation or treatment. At the same time, the number of people referred for evaluation has risen steeply since 2018.
Disability Law Colorado has kept legal pressure on the state to improve wait times, and Kelly McCullough, the group's director of legal services, noted reforms have allowed far more defendants to leave jail and seek outpatient care during the competency process.
"Having somebody languish in jail for months and months is not progressing toward that person being able to reintegrate into the community," she said.
In the last year, the number of people waiting in jail for inpatient treatment has halved as the state opened 104 beds at state-run mental health hospitals, the state contracted for 84 private beds, and the competency courts have helped find defendants treatment, Saenz said.
The state invested heavily in the hospitals to overcome COVID-19-driven staffing shortages, offering $2,000 to $14,000 in hiring bonuses for direct care staff. The legislature also invested in pay increases and other incentives, Saenz said.
Once a defendant is out of jail, Bridges of Colorado court liaisons work with defendants and their families to make sure they are going to treatment in an outpatient setting.
“Jail-based settings are incredibly stressful and oftentimes traumatic. These environments can exacerbate existing mental health symptoms in addition to creating new symptomatology,” said Jennifer Turner, the executive director of Bridges of Colorado, a new independent state office. Her staff are charged with helping defendants seek care outside of jail and advocate for them in court.
Frank conversations
On a Thursday morning in competency court, Judge Josianne Purchio reviewed cases with attorneys, a forensic navigator, and Court Liaison Michelle Wolf — having frank discussions about defendants’ progress.
In two cases where defendants failed to appear, rather than issuing a warrant for their arrest, Purchio asked the defense attorney and Wolf to contact defendants and their family members to make sure they will make their next court date.
Such a date could be in a week or in a few weeks, rather than several months. Such regular timelines ensure the attorneys, liaisons and navigators know the defendants and their families so the team could say in court whether failing to show up is out of character.
The format also allows for direct conversations.
In one case, a mom expressed her concerns about sending her son, who has experienced a severe head injury, to an inpatient facility — and the likelihood of him being restored at all.
While Purchio reminded her the cases are not going away, she said that the court would work with her on a solution.
“I don’t want him to go to jail or some kind of treatment facility where he is going to be abused and traumatized,” Purchio said, agreeing with the mom.
Reaching competency
While the Bridges liaisons aid the process they are not mental health providers.
In the 4th Judicial District, most participants go through Diversus Health or Gateway to Success for competency services, Wolf said.
Katie Blickenderfer, the chief clinical officer at Diversus, explained competency restoration and mental health treatment are separate processes that often happen at the same time.
Once someone is mentally stabilized, normally they can go through the educational curriculum that explains the court process, she said. Technically, competency restoration entails going over an educational curriculum until the person understands it, she said. Achieving competency does not mean the person is mentally well.
Stopping the competency cycle
House Rep. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, has been working to reform the competency system for several years to help those who cycle through the jails. Many of those same people also cycle through hospitals on emergency 72-hour mental health holds. In 2019, the state saw 50,000 mental health holds, she said.
Last spring, the legislature approved House Bill 24-1355, a measure she backed that will allow Bridges of Colorado employees to work with defendants outside the criminal courts to help them get care and stabilized long-term.
“It’s not about shortening the wait time, it’s actually about stopping the flow of people into that system,” she said.
Through the new wraparound program, defendants could have their cases dismissed within six to nine months by working with a caseworker on mental health support, medication management, transportation, food security and housing, Turner said. If someone is not engaging with the program, prosecutors could move forward with cases, with a Bridges court liaison appointed to help them, she said.
The program is expected to serve in the 4th Judicial District during October 2025, she said.
Mental Health Colorado President and CEO Vincent Atchity said his organization supported the new program that will help people leave the justice system and focus on their mental well-being.
He expects it will help those facing charges such as trespassing, public nuisance and other lower-level crimes, and free up the court system for those who have committed more egregious crimes.
“There's a significant chunk of the population with the lower charges, that can just be steered away from the pursuit of prosecution,” he said.
Ultimately, Mental Health Colorado would like to see far more mental health treatment for residents before they have run-ins with the law, including through supportive housing, which can offer mental health services along with an affordable place to live.
“We could be spending less and yielding far greater human outcomes,” he said.
Amabile said the new Bridges of Colorado program relies on having enough mental health care for residents who need it. To help expand that care, the state has invested tens of millions into new residential treatment beds that should be opening soon, she said.
Going home after jail
Lantz described his 14 months in jail as stressful. He walked, watched television, and became a Christian.
For three months, he tried to remember his older sister’s phone number. When it came to him, it was a miracle, he said.
“She answered, I was, like, ‘yes!’ he recalled.
He planned to move in with his sister and help her out in any way he could. He also hoped to give his brother a kidney. His brother is a diabetic on dialysis and was having a hard time walking.
In the long term, Lantz wanted to go to work for the VA, helping other veterans after competency court helped him achieve a largely clean criminal record.
“I want to have a job where I am going to be able to give back,” he said.
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