The lawsuit, Briggs v. Slatton-Hodges, was filed against the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) last year.
Plaintiffs argue hundreds of people who were ruled incompetent to stand trial have been left in jails across Oklahoma for inordinate amounts of time – all while waiting for the ODMHSAS to provide court-ordered treatment.
If someone is ruled incompetent to stand trial, their case will be delayed until after they receive treatment. For some people in jail, the wait for treatment took years.
Whether to accept the consent decree as a settlement, and in what form, has been a subject of spirited debate since it was first drafted earlier this year.
Defendant and ODMHSAS Commissioner Allie Friesen has repeatedly argued the consent decree places an undue burden on Oklahoma taxpayers and, as written, would not support the ODMHSAS revitalized mission to better serve those deemed incompetent.
The Contingency Review Board, headed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, has met multiple times in the last few months to discuss the potential pitfalls of the consent decree, backing Friesen’s decision to reject it.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond called the move premature both times the Contingency Review Board met.
Now, both Stitt and Drummond are saying the matter is resolved. Few details are available, and the most updated version of the agreement is sealed.
The Attorney General’s office said the consent decree is not very “materially different” but declined to share details.
Commissioner Friesen’s office also declined to comment on the content of the settlement.
Paul DeMuro, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, agreed with the AG’s position and said changes clarified what he believed “was already permitted.”
“I can't get into the details other than to say that the governor and the commissioner had a few concerns about the department's ability to provide jail-based restoration and we were able to resolve those concerns in the settlement conference,” DeMuro said.
DeMuro said he feels positive about the settlement’s long-term future and Thursday's conference had a good atmosphere as all sides put their differences aside to come to an agreement.
“There’s been some public statements on all sides that have amped up the rhetoric,” DeMuro said, “but at the end of the day, our leaders did the right thing and worked it out.”
Next, the Contingency Review Board is expected to consider the settlement in January.
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.
