OKLAHOMA CITY – The state of Oklahoma has agreed to a settlement in a federal lawsuit accusing it of failing to provide timely competency restoration treatment to jail inmates, state officials announced Monday.
The settlement mandates the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) to reduce wait times for defendants needing mental health competency restoration treatment. This includes increasing the number of beds available for such treatments and enhancing staffing and training.
Key provisions of the agreement include the implementation of a screening program to accelerate the evaluation and placement of defendants into restoration treatment settings. Additionally, there are set deadlines for court-ordered competency evaluations, and escalating fines will be imposed if the agency fails to meet these deadlines.
The agreement, known as a consent decree, requires approval from both the federal court and the Oklahoma Legislature before it becomes final.
The class-action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tulsa, claimed that the ODMHSAS was violating the due process rights of primarily indigent defendants who had been declared incompetent to stand trial. These defendants were often held in county jails for months, awaiting court-ordered competency restoration treatment, thereby delaying their criminal cases.
“We filed this lawsuit because Oklahoma’s competency restoration system is broken, and hundreds of people’s constitutional rights were being violated daily,” said Paul DeMuro, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs, who are the guardians ad litem for four inmates awaiting competency restoration treatment, are not seeking monetary damages. Instead, they demand that the state develop a plan to reduce wait times for competency evaluations and treatment. They assert that the inmates’ state and federal constitutional rights, as well as protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, have been violated.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond stated that the agreement would deliver overdue justice for victims and save the state millions of dollars.
“Under this proposal, victims and their families will not have to endure interminable delays for their cases to be resolved by the courts,” Drummond said. “This plan will strengthen the justice system and correct a process that has been fraught with problems. In so doing, this consent decree saves tens of millions of taxpayer dollars by avoiding the costs and risks of protracted litigation.”
Drummond emphasized that the settlement resulted from extensive negotiations and warned of the significant litigation risk and costs the state would face if the lawsuit proceeded.
Last legislative session, lawmakers approved $4.1 million to initiate the settlement process, although they noted that full compliance with the settlement’s terms would likely require significantly more funding.
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