A consent decree drafted to improve mental health services in Oklahoma county jails has cleared its first legislative hurdle.
The consent decree is in response to a 2023 lawsuit filed against the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services that claims pretrial inmates deemed incompetent are not receiving sufficient care. Plaintiffs argue hundreds of people were left in jails across Oklahoma for inordinate amounts of time while waiting for the department to provide court-ordered treatment.
The decree would establish a 21-day maximum wait time for the state to provide competency restoration services to a county jail detainee deemed incompetent by a court.
Whether to accept the consent decree as a settlement, and in what form, has been a subject of spirited debate — particularly between Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Gov. Kevin Stitt.
Drummond, who supports the decree, commended the state House Appropriations Committee for its approval. With a unanimous 27-0 vote, it will now move to the full House floor.
“This proposed settlement is a big win for Oklahoma,” Drummond said in response to its advance to the floor. “It saves the state tens of millions of dollars defending a clearly indefensible situation and remedies serious problems that have long plagued our criminal justice system. I am grateful to House Speaker Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tempore Paxton for authoring HCR 1004, and I am optimistic the resolution will make its way to Gov. Stitt for his signature.”
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said while he would not choose to “set policy through the courts in this way,” he sees the consent decree as the best path forward for restoring competency services in the state.
"This will ensure those who committed crimes are held accountable and victim[s’] families are allowed to see justice served, all while we are providing Oklahomans accused of a crime needed mental health services," Hilbert shared in a press release.
House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, also commented on the consent decree.
"We have been assured by the Department of Mental Health that they have a plan for implementation of this decree and are hopeful it will not take the full five years to fulfill the terms needed for the department to come into compliance," Caldwell said. "In a year with declining revenue, this is not a price tag anyone in the state wants to pay, but we know this needs to get fixed quickly, and we are all committed to getting this done this session."
He said he hopes it moves through the House quickly.
If it passes the House vote, final approval lands on Stitt, who has been a vocal critic of the decree since it was first drafted.
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