Oct 9, 2025
Disability Law Colorado (DLC) has released a new public report: Conditions at Southern Peaks Regional Treatment Center (2022–2025), detailing unsafe conditions and inadequate treatment for children at the state-funded psychiatric residential treatment facility in Cañon City, Colorado. The report reveals that children placed at Southern Peaks for mental health care instead face neglect, excessive restraint, and unsafe living environments.
Based on more than three years of monitoring, interviews with nearly 50 youth residents, and feedback from staff and families, the report exposes widespread overuse of restraint and seclusion, inconsistent access to therapy, and substandard living conditions described by residents as “like jail.” Disability Law Colorado calls for immediate reform to ensure safe, trauma-informed treatment for children with mental health needs in Colorado.
“Southern Peaks is supposed to provide a therapeutic environment — that’s the reason it exists,” said Emily Harvey, Co-Legal Director at Disability Law Colorado and co-author of the report. “What we found instead is a place where children feel unsafe and unheard.”
Read the full report: Download the Public Report (PDF)
Press release: View the Media Release (PDF)
