Lawsuit highlights mental health crisis in Oklahoma prisons

According to one observer, this is a “Kafkaesque purgatory” in which mentally ill patients are imprisoned and awaiting treatment in order to advance legal proceedings against them rather than legal proceedings for their underlying crimes. I often spend a lot of time on it.

“These are the forgotten and most powerless people in our society,” Tulsa attorney Paul DeMuro said in an interview late last year. “They are severely mentally ill, destitute and imprisoned. They are the triple whammy of powerlessness.”

Despite claims to the contrary by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, “the situation is only going to get worse,” DeMuro said in an email Friday.

Under state and federal law, a finding of incompetence halts all proceedings in a person’s case until competency is restored. Even if prosecutors wanted to get them out of prison and into a diversion program, they can’t. And defense attorneys, usually public defenders, cannot plead guilty to incompetent clients, even if that means a lesser prison sentence and, in some cases, faster treatment.

This can often be accomplished with close supervision, medication, and treatment. Theoretically, it could happen in prisons, but experts on the issue say it’s difficult without proper staffing and equipment — especially given the recent upsurge in mental illness and substance abuse across the country. When you think about it, most prisons have neither.

A 2022 report by the nonprofit organization Oklahoma Appleseed led to a pro bono federal class action lawsuit filed last spring in the Northern District of Oklahoma. Last month, District Judge Gregory Frizzell issued a new continuing judgment in the case as plaintiffs’ attorneys and the state work toward a settlement.

Meanwhile, leadership at the Oklahoma State Department of Mental Health has changed.

The waiting list for competency treatment at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has grown from “20 to 40 people” a few years ago to at least 120 people at the start, according to a class action lawsuit in which DeMuro is the attorney of record. It is said that he did. In 2023.

Other sources say the number was more than 300.

The exact number of mentally incompetent prisoners who require treatment is debated. The Oklahoma State Department of Mental Health said it is treating 270 prison inmates awaiting transfer to the Oklahoma Forensic Center, the only state-run facility offering inpatient competency treatment. The report said new treatment programs in various prisons restored competency to more than 120 people in 2023.

“The department is working diligently with court systems across the state to find ways to divert people into treatment, especially for misdemeanors,” an agency spokesperson said in a recent email. Facilitating court agreements to convert app litigation into civil proceedings could reduce demand for forensic services, address underlying illnesses, and avoid future negative consequences. It is expected that

“Repeated claims in the media that DMH offers ‘in-prison recovery programs’ throughout the state are false,” DeMuro said Friday. “Our team traveled throughout the state to meet with service providers, law enforcement, prison officials, and DMH officials regarding DMH’s so-called In-Prison Restoration Program.

“The bottom line is that there is no state-wide prison remediation program, at least not one that any reasonable professional would recognize as such.”

Critics argue that the program is a fig leaf meant to convince judges that the problem is resolved. According to the Tulsa class action lawsuit, in February 2023, the Department of Mental Health’s then-communications director told attorneys that “(the department) has expanded recovery treatment opportunities over the past few months, and now there are more opportunities for restorative treatment.” I’m happy to report that there is.” No one is waiting for competency treatment. ”

The lawsuit called the claim “ridiculous.”

Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado has refused to authorize the program at the jail, calling it ineffective at best. When the Legislature approved a bill last year requiring participation, Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed it.

“While these unfortunate individuals are effectively on waiting lists and languishing in county jails waiting for forensic beds, DMH is committed to ensuring that they remain in prison-based rehabilitation programs,” DeMuro said Friday. “They are trying to disguise their status by pretending to be participating.”

At a court hearing last month, the director of Oklahoma County’s jail program acknowledged that his background is primarily in marriage counseling and that his competency recovery training consisted of a six-hour Zoom course. His job involves checking on each of the roughly 20 inmates every week or every 10 days, and usually requires talking to them through a meal slot in their cell door. said.

One of his patients had been in prison for more than a year without any noticeable improvement, he said.

Weeks later, in a separate case, an Oklahoma County judge held the Department of Mental Health in contempt of court for failing to order the October removal of a mentally ill man accused of throwing rocks at someone. , fined $500.

Almost everyone agrees that prisons are not appropriate places to treat the mentally ill, and that the Ministry of Mental Health needs more mental health professionals and hospital beds to properly clear waiting lists. ing. He is adding 80 beds to the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita for that purpose, but many believe the facility should be more easily accessible from across the state.

Regalado said he has offered to lease two empty pods at the Tulsa County Jail to the Department of Mental Health for that purpose, and hopes an agreement can be reached after the department’s new chief is settled this spring. That’s what it means.

However, many observers argue that the Department of Mental Health is not making the best use of available resources and is not being forthright in its response.

A Tulsa class action lawsuit alleges that the Department of Mental Health enforces transportation orders based as much or more on threats of legal action than medical considerations.

Ryan Sullivan, an assistant public defender who represented the defendant in one of the Oklahoma County cases, said much the same thing.

“They say the list is based on acuteness, but when someone files a petition for a cause, all of a sudden the list changes,” Sullivan said in an interview.

The same thing appears to have happened to the Tulsa plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit. The men, identified only as TW and BS in court documents, were transferred to the Oklahoma Forensic Center shortly after the lawsuit was filed last spring, their attorneys said.

At the time, TW had been in Tulsa County Jail for about a year and BS had been in prison for 18 months. TW was initially arrested on obstruction charges after refusing to leave a Tulsa restaurant. BS was jailed for kicking a hospital security guard and fighting with paramedics.

The Tulsa County Jail typically houses about 20 people deemed incompetent. Prescription medications will be given if needed, but cannot be forced. Many people resist because they are unaware of their disease or because of the side effects of the medication.

The Department of Mental Health says it is investing in intervention services to keep individuals out of the criminal justice system. These include expanding crisis response services across the state, increasing the number of psychiatric hospital beds, specialized court services, and creating “community services to address the needs of people at increased risk for frequent collaboration with law enforcement.” This includes “based efforts”.

But that’s not enough. More and more people with mental illnesses and addictions are ending up in prison for reasons that experts have difficulty explaining.

“As a society, we expect too much from the criminal justice system,” DeMuro said. “The criminal justice system is the receptacle for all of society’s ills. And the criminal justice system is a blunt instrument. It was not designed to cure all of society’s ills and ills, and yet we rely on it. ‘That’s what you do.’ ”