Western Slope hospital votes down proposal to treat ICE detainees

The board governing one of Colorado’s psychiatric hospitals opted not to move forward with a contract to treat people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after community backlash.

West Springs Hospital in Grand Junction considered contracting with ICE to care for detainees in a mental health or addiction crisis, Aspen Public Radio first reported Feb. 3. The board of Mind Springs Health, its parent organization, unanimously voted Thursday not to pursue such a contract.

“After thorough deliberation, the board concluded that entering into this contract would compromise community trust,” board chair Carlos Cornejo said in a news release. “West Springs Hospital and Mind Springs Health are completely committed to providing behavioral health care services to all individuals, but we believe that it is essential to maintain the trust and confidence of the communities we serve, and this decision reflects our dedication to that principle.”

Mind Springs and West Springs do provide care to local jail inmates when needed, but a federal contract would have been new, spokeswoman Judy Mendoza said. The organization is talking with other entities that serve populations in need of more beds for mental health treatment, but can’t divulge any specifics at this point, she said.

West Springs Hospital has 48 beds, with an average of about 30 in use at any given point last year. The facility is the only psychiatric hospital in Colorado west of the Front Range.

Larkin Health System, a small chain of hospitals in Florida looking to take over Mind Springs, has had contracts to care for ICE detainees for over two decades. Nicholas Torres, who is temporarily acting as CEO of both Mind Springs and one of Larkin’s hospitals, told Grand Junction station KKCO that a contract to care for detainees in mental health crisis could bring millions into the organization, which suffered from cash flow problems last year.

An ICE spokesman declined to comment on discussions with Mind Springs.

The national standards for detention centers require that all staff receive training on suicide prevention and recognizing signs of mental illnesses. Detainees determined to be at risk of suicide could stay in the general population, be moved to an isolation unit, or be hospitalized at another facility, depending on how imminent staff determine the risk is.

Detention centers are supposed to screen new arrivals for their risk of withdrawal from alcohol or other drugs, and to offer medication to ease the process, according to the standards. If someone is at risk of dying from withdrawal, the standards require the facility to transfer them to a hospital.