Many more people suffering with mental illnesses are in jail or prison in Colorado than in a therapeutic hospital setting.And many of the state's sheriffs are outspoken with their opinions that that should not be the case.

Danielle Nordeen drives a 16-year-old Toyota Camry that doesn’t handle well on snowy mountain passes. In January, Nordeen had to make the drive from her home in Grand Junction to Pueblo often enough that she developed a strategy: Find a semi with its hazard lights on and follow it closely, prompting the other drivers to direct their wrath toward the trucker rather than her.

They’re victims of car accidents, they’ve been shot, or they threatened their parents. They have overdosed on cocaine, swallowed too many pills or passed out drunk. On an average Friday or Saturday night, they can make up about half of the sick, injured and wounded crowding the rooms and hallways of the emergency department at Denver Health.

A raised red oval, a couple of inches in diameter, sits at the top of Alex Meredith’s forehead.

Call them frequent flyers. Or superutilizers. Or loyal customers.

In unit 4C of the Pueblo County jail, any human presence draws inmates to the narrow windows of their solitary cells.