A federal judge has rejected sanctions against Oklahoma's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for not fully complying with a consent decree.
Attorneys for people with severe mental illness in jails across the state were asking a judge to fine the Department of Mental Health $10,000 for every day it doesn't come up with a legitimate plan to speed up wait times for treatment.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell wrote Wednesday that though the department had only made "halting progress" toward compliance, the dispute resolution process outlined in the consent decree is the proper course for addressing the plaintiffs' concerns, not injunctive relief.
Frizzell did, however, admonish the department for its slow progress.
"The continued delay in the provision of restoration treatment by the Department should be and is of great concern to this court, as well as the general public," he wrote.
Oklahoma's system to treat people with mental illness who have been found incompetent to stand trial remains in disarray more than seven months after the Department of Mental Health agreed to implement reforms to end a class-action lawsuit, the attorneys claimed in the October court filing leading to Frizzell's ruling.
The lawsuit accused the Department of Mental Health of violating the civil rights of people in the criminal justice system with severe mental illness who sometimes wait months in jails for treatment.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs claim the Department of Mental Health falsely reported on progress it has made on reforms, including that it had created a new program to provide mental health treatment to people in jail, and that it has also failed to provide accurate figures on how many people are waiting for treatment.
The department argued it already addressed some of the concerns raised by the plaintiffs' attorneys and received no notice of dispute prior to their filing.
"Plaintiffs' attorneys' disregard of this process violated the Consent Decree's explicit terms and stunts the parties' need, promoted in the Consent Decree, to work together to resolve miscommunications and misunderstandings, solve common problems, and accomplish common goals in a multi-year process," attorneys for the department wrote.
Paul DeMuro, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said while the ruling isn't what they had hoped for, they plan to follow the court's recommendation.
"[T]he Court said we need to use the dispute resolution process in the Consent Decree before we seek relief from the Court," he said. "And that's what we'll do. We've already initiated that process. We won't stop fighting until the competency restoration system is fixed."
The Department of Mental Health responded to Frizzell's ruling in a statement.
"ODMHSAS respects the court's decision and appreciates the hard work of our staff and partners across the state," the statement said. "We remain mission-driven and steadfast in this long-term process, supported by all of our facilities and state partners, to meet the consent decree's requirements and strengthen Oklahoma's competency restoration system."
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