Christopher Lopez

​What's an Emergency:  your home going up in flames or your child with mental disabilities in adseg?
​

Orchid's Take
         Well the answer is obviously BOTH are EMERGENCIES.  
             The State of Colorado ostensibly got the HELL OUT of the AdSeg ( Administrative Segregation or Solitary) business for people with mental illness in Colorado prisons AFTER the DEATH of Christopher Lopez while in the Department of Corrections custody at San Carlos prison.
              The State did not handle the Lopez case with the class it should have and it did adopt a good policy after Lopez' death,  although it had to pay a whistleblower $280,000 for allegedly bringing to light it was overstating compliance with that policy.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/01/20/colorado-pays-prison-whistleblower-280000/​
              Well the problem is everything is connected.
              In this case what is connected is Colorado County & Muncipal Jails' use of AdSeg against people with mental illness, developmental disabilities, and brain injury and lack of readily available beds and alternatives provided by the STATE.
               This is an emergency -- at least is for somebody.
                The State needs to consider an Emergency Supplemental for this.  Also let's get creative -- see how much could be covered by Medicaid [we realize this is hard time to talk about Medicaid] if we all worked together -- at least for one person we know of--- a nursing home placement would have been appropriate and desired, etc.