This week, the Oklahoma County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted to break ground on a Behavioral Care Center to operate in tandem with the county jail, without a site for that jail nailed down.
After the Oklahoma County Jail failed multiple consecutive health inspections, the State Department of Health opened an investigation into its conditions.
The county was tasked with finding a new location to build the jail, but not without difficulty. The OKC City Council denied its proposed location near Del City in May because of its proximity to homes, schools and nursing facilities. The board has appealed the city council’s decision.
A Behavioral Care Center, though, has been officially approved for construction on the same plot of land. The center will be a separate facility from the jail, potentially with a different company contract for health services, but will operate as part of the county’s justice system.
Modeled after a similar center in Nashville, Tennessee, the Oklahoma County facility will function as a place for people charged with lower-level crimes to complete behavioral healthcare programs, and consequently remove the charges from their records.
The motion to build was brought by Commissioner Carrie Blumert, who says the center will help “decriminalize” mental health.
“We can't keep incarcerating people for low level crimes that they commit related to untreated mental illness,” Blumert said. “It's not fixing the problem; it's making it worse. And providing people treatment and support and resources helps them get back on their feet and get healthy.”
Initial plans for the center place it directly next to the jail, but until a ruling is made on the county’s appeal, whether that will happen remains unclear.
Blumert said the board of commissioners voted to move forward with construction so Oklahoma County can make use of COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act. The $40 million funds allocated to the project are only eligible for use until December 2026, so that is when building construction is scheduled to be finished.
The Behavioral Care Center will have 60 beds and is expected to serve thousands of people annually. Plans for the new jail also involve several hundred beds specific to mental health treatment, but for people who have committed more serious crimes.
“There will be mental health services provided inside the jail,” Commissioner Blumert said, “but this behavioral care facility is truly a mental health hospital. It is for folks who don't need to be in jail. They need treatment. I have seen the designs. I have worked with our architect. It has a lot of natural light, it has a lot of art. It has a lot of bright colors. It will not look like a jail at all. It will look like a state of the art mental health hospital.”
Exact policies on how to make decisions about placement in the center have not been finalized, but ultimately will be up to judges and legislative officials. Blumert said the center will be dependent on cross-department coordination.
“In order for this behavioral care facility to work really well, we are going to have to have a good partnership between the healthcare staff doing those bookings at the jail, our judges and our district attorney's office, who are actually filing charges on people,” she said.
Blumert and a group of mental health professionals will visit Davidson County’s Behavioral Care Center in Tennessee later this month, to learn more about their program.
The Behavioral Care Center will be located at 1901 East Grand Street, in the NW corner of the intersection made by SE 22nd Street. The land is owned by the county and has already been properly zoned for its construction.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
