(Pierre) – A 17-year old South Dakota girl died of suicide Friday while at a Colorado treatment facility.

The girl was found hanging at the Devereux Cleo Wallace residential treatment center in Westminster, CO just after 7 p.m. May 17^th.

The girl had been receiving care in out-of-state facilities because of her specialized needs. She had been at the Colorado program since February 2002. The girl was first committed to the custody of the state of South Dakota in October 1999 and placed in Department of Social Services group care. She was later transferred to the custody of the Department of Corrections in April 2000 as a juvenile delinquent.

The Devereux Cleo Wallace program is a psychiatric facility offering inpatient, residential and day treatment programs for child and adolescent male and female youth ages 5 to 21 and is licensed by the Colorado Department of Human Services. Devereux Centers operate in thirteen states. For more information on the Devereux programs, see http://www.devereux.org/.

The Colorado Department of Human Services and the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment are reviewing the girl’s death.

More information is available from the Denver Post at: http://www.denverpost.com/framework/0%2C1918%2C36%257E53%257E622806%2C00.html

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