More than a year after it was due, the state's plan to provide court-ordered treatment for Oklahoma defendants found incompetent to stand trial has been approved by the consultants overseeing a high-profile consent decree.
The state entered the consent decree to settle a 2023 lawsuit that accused the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services of violating the civil rights of people in the criminal justice system with severe mental illness who sometimes wait months in jail for treatment before their cases can resume.
Four versions of the plan previously submitted by the department were rejected by court consultants and class counsel for a lack of detail and a failure to collaborate with the settlement parties, according to court consultant Neil Gowensmith. He approved the latest draft in a letter filed in federal court in Tulsa on July 13.
"While we approve the Plan, we consider this to be the first serious effort on the part of ODMHSAS to implement the Decree," Gowensmith wrote on behalf of the three consultants in charge of monitoring the department. "More than a year has gone by since entry of the Decree, much of that time wasted by a lack of real focus on the Decree."
He said the plan is just one step toward meeting the standards of the consent decree and that the department has a short amount of time left to begin "the real work."
The department's plan was originally due by June 9, 2025, but as of January, consultants said the plan didn't exist, and the number of people waiting in county jails for mental health treatment had increased by 58%.
Ultimately, the consent decree requires the state to provide criminal defendants with court-ordered treatment within 21 days. In May, 203 people were waiting an average of 104 days in county jails for treatment, according to the agency's approved strategic plan.
The Department of Mental Health has already been fined $3.5 million for failing to reduce treatment wait times and make other functional improvements for class members. The agency will face another round of fines beginning in October after the consent decree's yearly cap resets, according to the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Paul DeMuro.
He said the newly approved plan represents a substantial shift in the department's handling of the consent decree. DeMuro credited agency leadership changes and a federal judge's ruling that the state had failed to make "best efforts" to comply with the decree.
"I'm confident, if the department maintains this level of focus and collaboration, we can get this done," DeMuro said. "There may be some bumps in the road, or disagreements or things might not happen as quickly as people on the ground would like, but I am confident we can get it right."
Still, more than a year after the final consent decree was approved, DeMuro said he had hoped the state would be further along in making improvements.
"If you talk to public defenders, district attorneys and judges, they are still not seeing the changes," DeMuro said. "We've got a long way to go."
To be successful, the department must create a treatment system for criminal defendants that "serves courts, counties, treatment providers, and individuals more effectively," the plan authors wrote.
"We're grateful for the Court Consultants' approval of our Consent Decree Strategic Plan," a spokesperson for the department said in a statement. "While there is still important work ahead that will take time and collaboration with our partners across the state, this marks a meaningful step in the right direction."
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