Involuntary commitment in Colorado is the legal process, set out in Article 65 of Title 27 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, that lets the state hold and treat a person who, because of a mental health disorder, is an imminent danger to themselves or others or is gravely disabled. It starts with a 72-hour emergency hold, can extend to a three-month certification for short-term treatment, and can continue in six-month court-ordered increments after that. At every stage the person has the right to a lawyer and to contest the commitment in court.
How a Commitment Starts
There are two ways someone ends up in the system. The first is an emergency hold. A peace officer, licensed mental health professional, psychiatric nurse, licensed clinical social worker, or certain licensed therapists and counselors can take a person into custody on probable cause and transport them to an approved facility for a 72-hour evaluation. This is often called an M-1 hold.1Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-105 – Emergency Procedure
The second path is a court-ordered evaluation. Any person can file a petition in the county where the individual lives or is physically present, describing specific facts that show the person needs evaluation. If probable cause is not obvious from the petition, the court orders a screening. If the screening confirms probable cause and the person has refused voluntary evaluation, the court can order an involuntary one.2FindLaw. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 27 Section 27-65-106
When a peace officer initiates the hold, the officer must give the receiving facility a written application describing how the person came to their attention, the facts supporting the hold based on personal observations or reliable reports, and when custody began. A copy goes to the person being held.3Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-105 – Emergency Procedure
The 72-Hour Hold
Once the person reaches an approved facility, a 72-hour treatment and evaluation window begins. Clinicians assess the person, stabilize them, and decide whether they meet the criteria for continued involuntary treatment. If the evaluation team concludes by the end of the 72 hours that the criteria are not met, the facility must release the person.
The two triggers, danger and grave disability, do specific work in the statute. “Gravely disabled” means that, because of a mental health disorder, the person cannot make informed decisions about or provide for essential needs without significant help, and is at risk of serious physical harm, dangerous worsening of a physical illness, significant psychiatric deterioration, or an inability to manage basic necessities. Someone whose decision-making is limited only by a developmental disability does not qualify.4FindLaw. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 27 Section 27-65-102
Short-Term Treatment Certification
If the team wants to continue treatment past 72 hours, they can certify the person for up to three months of short-term treatment. Four conditions must be met: staff have determined the person has a mental health disorder that makes them dangerous or gravely disabled, further treatment is necessary, the person has been told about voluntary treatment options but has not accepted them (or there are reasonable grounds to believe they would not follow through), and a designated facility is available.5Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-109 – Certification for Short-Term Treatment – Procedure
The timelines are strict. A professional who took part in the evaluation must sign and file the notice of certification with the court within 48 hours, excluding weekends and court holidays. Within 24 hours of certification, the person must be handed a copy of it along with written notice of the right to request a court hearing or jury trial. Once the certification is filed, the court immediately appoints an attorney. If a hearing is requested, it must happen within ten days, and the court can confirm the certification, discharge the person, or enter another appropriate order.5Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-109 – Certification for Short-Term Treatment – Procedure
Long-Term Care and Treatment
When the three-month certification is running out and someone still meets the commitment criteria, the professional in charge of the case or the Behavioral Health Administration can petition the court for long-term care. The state has to prove the same core facts, a mental health disorder causing dangerousness or grave disability plus a refusal of voluntary treatment, by clear and convincing evidence.6Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 27-65-110 – Long-Term Care and Treatment of Persons With Mental Health Disorders
A long-term order lasts up to six months. The court can grant additional six-month extensions with no statutory cap on the number of them, as long as the criteria still apply. Each extension requires a new petition and hearing, so the person gets a fresh chance to fight the commitment every cycle.6Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 27-65-110 – Long-Term Care and Treatment of Persons With Mental Health Disorders
Your Rights During a Commitment
The General Assembly has declared that Article 65 is meant to deprive a person of liberty for treatment only when less restrictive alternatives are unavailable and the person’s safety or the safety of others is at risk, and to encourage voluntary treatment in the least restrictive setting.7Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-101 – Legislative Declaration That policy runs through the specific rights the statute gives you.
Right to an Attorney
As soon as a certification for short-term treatment is filed, the court must appoint counsel. The right carries through hearings, extensions, and appeals. If you cannot pay, the court appoints a legal services attorney or a private attorney at no cost. You can only waive counsel by making a knowing and intelligent waiver in open court.5Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-109 – Certification for Short-Term Treatment – Procedure
Right to Notice and to Contest
You get a copy of the written application after an emergency hold and a copy of the certification, plus written notice of your hearing rights, within 24 hours of a short-term certification. You or your attorney can file a written request at any time asking the court to review the certification or continuing treatment, or to move treatment to an outpatient basis.5Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-109 – Certification for Short-Term Treatment – Procedure
Humane Treatment and the Least Restrictive Setting
Facilities must treat you with full respect for your dignity. Colorado regulations limit seclusion and restraints to genuine emergencies with a serious, probable, and imminent threat of bodily harm, and only after less restrictive approaches like verbal de-escalation have failed or been determined ineffective.8Legal Information Institute. Colorado Code of Regulations 2 CCR 502-1-11.9 – Seclusion, Restraint, and Physical Management If outpatient or community-based services can address your needs, those must be considered before inpatient treatment.
Right to Refuse Medication
A commitment does not automatically strip your right to refuse psychiatric medication. A facility can override a refusal only in limited circumstances, such as a finding that you are incompetent to make the decision or an immediate danger inside the facility. When medication is refused and the treating team believes it is essential, the proper route is a judicial proceeding on competency rather than forced administration.
How to Fight a Commitment
There are four practical ways to challenge a Colorado commitment.
Attack the evidence. The state must prove by clear and convincing evidence that you have a mental health disorder making you dangerous or gravely disabled. That is a high bar. Your attorney can cross-examine treating clinicians, present an independent psychiatric evaluation, call witnesses, and argue that the observed behavior does not amount to imminent danger or grave disability. Judges do not automatically credit clinician testimony, and factual weaknesses matter.
Attack the procedure. The 48-hour filing deadline, the 24-hour notice, and the ten-day hearing window are firm. If any deadline slipped, or if notice of your rights was not properly given, that failure can be grounds to challenge the commitment.5Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-109 – Certification for Short-Term Treatment – Procedure
File a habeas petition. Any person detained under Article 65 can file a habeas corpus petition in any court with authority to issue such orders, asking whether the detention is lawful. It is a safety valve outside the normal hearing calendar.9Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-115 – Habeas Corpus
Appeal. Both short-term certifications and long-term orders can be appealed under the Colorado appellate rules. The appellate court must give the case priority and decide it as quickly as practicable. While the appeal is pending, the trial court can enter whatever orders it considers appropriate for care and custody.10Justia Law. Colorado Code 27-65-114 – Appeals
Firearm Rights After a Commitment
This is the consequence people most often miss. Under federal law, a person who has been committed to a mental institution is prohibited from shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving any firearm or ammunition.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts The ban is permanent unless relief is granted.
Colorado provides a judicial route to restoration under C.R.S. 13-5-142.5. You have to show that you no longer pose a danger to public safety and that relief would not be contrary to the public interest. If you were involuntarily committed at any point, assume the federal restriction applies until a court specifically restores your rights.
Who Pays for the Treatment
Costs of the 72-hour hold and any court-ordered treatment that follows are generally billed to the person or their insurance. Inpatient psychiatric care is expensive, and even a short stay can produce a large bill. Medicaid covers mental health services as an essential health benefit, and some facilities offer sliding-scale fees or financial assistance, but gaps remain for people who earn too much for Medicaid but cannot absorb private insurance costs.
The court-appointed attorney is free for people who cannot afford one, but other litigation costs are not automatically covered. Independent psychiatric evaluations and expert witnesses, often decisive in contesting a commitment, are usually paid out of pocket.