Abusing Jails

   If even half of the mentally illness victims currently being treated at Oklahoma's jails were able to get treatment at a community treatment center, there would be no need for expanding our current jails.

   Several of us, with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), are very disappointed that the Jails are severely misused as mental health treatment centers, just because there are no available beds in real psychiatric hospitals, in Oklahoma.  Dumping these people into a jail population is a horrible and inhumane act. They are far more likely to be further victimized by the real "bad dudes" who do belong behind bars.

CLOSED: Eastern State Hospital, Vinita

 Vinita State Hospital was closed by the legislature more than 10 years ago; but the legislature never finished their commitment to replace the beds with community treatment centers around the state.

   Now, a crisis psychotic break results in police arrests for "disorderly conduct" and a jail sentence. The sufferer becomes an inmate with a police record, lost employment, separated family, kids in foster care, and a bill to taxpayers which is THREE TIMES what a 10-day stay at a community treatment center would cost.

   If the Oklahoma Legislature would complete their duties to the state, the tax burden would be lifted from county and municipal budgets.

  Separating mental health crises from criminal justice is an essential reform which needs to happen, in Oklahoma. A nervous breakdown is devastating enough to recover from; but adding the further stigma of 

• a criminal record, 
• DHS custody of children, 
• lost employment from a 90-day jail sentence.

These are a mountain too high for our loved ones to scale alone.

A California prison, after the overloading effects of Dumping
the state's mental hospital population into the jails and prisons.
It makes everyone less safe. It overloads the facilities and
endangers the ill and the inmates.
It is a state-sanctioned abuse of  the mentally ill.

   We who work together for mental health feel it is shameful that Oklahoma's top 2 mental health providers are the County Jails in OKC & Tulsa.

   The current Tulsa jail bond election signals a sad reality. The county wants us to fund a mental health wing at the jail. While it's laudable that they are committing to better treatment of mental illness, We don't think the jail is the appropriate setting for the treatment of these victims.  No one asks to be stricken with the cruel scourge of mania, schizophrenia, suicidal depression, or delusional psychosis. It is an unreal "hell" to be a sufferer of these maladies. But there are some amazing treatments available which restore lives, families, and communities.

   If even half of the mentally illness victims currently being treated at Oklahoma's jails were able to get treatment at a community treatment center, there would be no need for expanding our current jails. This is a national trend, fueled by state legislatures who essentially "pass the buck" and leave local law enforcement with very few options, when responding to a crisis call.

The  first, and so far, only facility
established to assume the role
that Vinita had been serving.
It was intended to handle the
Tulsa County need, but later was
forced to take on all 77 counties.

  We urge our county commissioners to press the state legislature for the promised mental health infrastructure, which would save the taxpayers very significant funds every year. 

   Oklahoma's first (& only) added community mental health center to be funded, in the wake of Vinita's closure, was TCBH. It was housed in an obsolete building of a former small hospital. TCBH was designated to handle JUST Tulsa county's needs. But the state later broke this commitment to Tulsa, and ordered the center to admit patients from all 77 counties of Oklahoma. The center is perpetually full and turning away scores of sick people every week who voluntarily seek recovery, before any police action is needed. Similar facilities at McAlester, Weatherford, Lawton, and Enid would save every county and municipality massive funds currently being spent on unnecessary incarcerations. Yes, it's an added state investment (which was promised from the massive savings of closing Vinita), yet the overall tax burden would be less, when we take into account the county and city law enforcement impact.

  For most sufferers of an acute psychotic break, their lives were very stable and bright, prior to the unexpected event. They are terrified and confused. Most of these fellow citizens have a great opportunity for recovery and a renewed potential to contribute to their society.

  Dumping these people into a jail population is a horrible and inhumane act. They are far more likely to be further victimized by the real "bad dudes" who do belong behind bars.