Oklahoma agency misses first benchmarks of mental health settlement

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma mental health department missed its first series of deadlines to provide improved competency restoration services. 

The Oklahoma Legislature approved the agency’s settling of a 2023 lawsuit that alleged the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services violated the rights of mostly indigent defendants who had been declared incompetent to stand trial by failing to provide timely court-ordered competency restoration treatment. 

The consent decree requires the agency to reform its competency evaluations and restoration treatment programs.

As part of the settlement, the department is required to make progress in its competency restoration services on a set timeline. The mental health department was supposed to meet 10 benchmarks by June 8. 

Seven benchmarks were not met. One was partially completed. One had an “unknown” status. Only one deadline was met. 

The consent decree is expected to cost between $26 million and $45 million over three to five years, depending on the agency’s ability to provide competency restoration services as required.  

“Interim Commissioner Slavonic began his tenure on June 9 and has made aligning the agency with the consent decree a top priority, including targeted restructuring to enhance implementation and oversight,” said Maria Chaverri, spokesperson for the mental health department, in a statement Tuesday. 

Former Commissioner Allie Friesen was removed by the Legislature May 29 because lawmakers had “lost confidence” in her ability to lead the department amid financial disarray. Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Retired Rear Admiral Gregory Slavonic as the interim commissioner. 

The report, dated June 13, found that at the end of May, 180 people were in custody awaiting competency restoration services with 135 people waiting for an initial evaluation. 

The only benchmark fully met, per the report, was creating and implementing a plan to require continued education for Oklahoma Forensic Center staff involved with carrying out the consent decree. Developing a triage screening protocol was a “partially” met benchmark.  

“Progress in implementing the Decree to date has been halting to date,” the report read. “The policy statements submitted by (the mental health department) in response to various June 8 deadlines provide a good start for implementation of the Decree. However, those statements do not constitute a true Plan, and (the department) needs to move rapidly and with urgency to create and implement the various plans required by the Decree. In our view, there is little evidence that steps taken to date have had a direct impact on the waitlist, though the triage process, new beds at (the Oklahoma Forensic Center), and better tracking of data by the (mental health department) Central Office should have a positive impact over time.” 

The consultants, who are charged with tracking the progress of the settlement, are supposed to provide biannual reports on progress made for the settlement. But they opted to write an interim report ahead of the scheduled date in July because of several changes involving the mental health department, including Friesen’s dismissal and Slavonic’s appointment as well as legislation passed involving the department this year. 

The Legislature passed two bills, House Bills 2785 and 2513, that concern the department and the consent decree. The first allows the director of the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services to oversee the mental health department’s finances and spending. The second measure charges an official with overseeing the implementation of the consent decree.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who was an advocate for the consent decree, said in a June 10 letter to Slavonic that he’s committed to helping the mental health department fulfill its mandates and offered assistance from his legal team. 

Drummond wrote that given Slavonic’s recent appointment, he should have the opportunity to comply with the settlement but any future failure would be met with “significant sanctions and penalties.”

“The agency must commit to a concerted effort to provide comprehensive and reliable data for a systematic reformation to be realized,” his letter read. “Otherwise, the consequences of (the mental health department’s) delayed restoration services will continue to compound to the detriment of the class and (the department).”

The attorney general said he met with Slavonic to outline the pressing issues and has great respect for the interim commissioner, but his office will be “watching closely,” he said Tuesday in a statement. 

There are no fines or fees associated with these missed benchmarks, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said. 

The consultants for the consent decree are set to return to Oklahoma at the end of June, visiting the Oklahoma and Tulsa county jails as well as the Oklahoma Forensic Center. 

A spokesperson from the Governor’s Office did not return a request for comment.