Oklahoma Department of Mental Health fails to meet requirements of lawsuit settlement, report says

A report says the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health is not doing what it's supposed to do when it comes to following a lawsuit that was settled with the state. 

The department was supposed to make changes when it comes to treating inmates who have been declared incompetent to stand trial, but the report says that's not happening.

The report findings

The report says the department has been too slow, isn't meeting its deadlines, and doesn't even have enough information to make the improvements.

Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler says it's amateur hour at the Mental Health Department.

"This is completely embarrassing for the administration of the Department of Mental Health," he said. "It's not as though they didn't know that there were things they were obligating themselves to."

The report says the department doesn't know how many people need to be re-evaluated, or how many beds are needed for patients, and there still isn't someone in charge of making sure the lawsuit requirements are met.

"It appears to me, in reading this interim report, that the Department of Mental Health basically sat on its hands and is continuing to sit on its hands," said Kunzweiler.

The report says the department has failed to start an in-jail treatment program at the Tulsa County Jail.

It says Sheriff Vic Regalado was willing to discuss a plan to start the program.

The sheriff's office sent us a statement that says,"The Tulsa County Sheriff’s is willing to abide by the decree and allow competency restorations in the Tulsa County Jail, but as of today, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has not provided a plan to begin a competency restoration program in the jail. On any given day, we average between 40 and 45 inmates in the jail who are awaiting transfer to the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita, so they can finally receive the level of care they need.”

"I got the impression in reading the report, the Department Mental Health hasn't done what they called best efforts to go down that route. I don't know why, but that's because they haven't appointed, apparently, a point person to say, All right, what is this that you all were envisioning?"

ODMHSAS Statement

"Interim Commissioner Gregory Slavonic began his tenure on June 9th and has made aligning the agency with the

consent decree a top priority, including targeted restructuring to enhance implementation and oversight."

What's next?

A more detailed report will be sent out next month.

If the requirements of the court-ordered agreement are not met, the state can be fined.

The state has five years to meet all the requirements.