OKPOLICY.ORG
It has been fascinating to watch the federal lawsuit filed on March 1, 2023, by three jail inmates who had been declared incompetent to stand trial and were awaiting treatment to restore them to competency. They sued the commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (“ODMHSAS”) and the executive director of the Oklahoma Forensic Center (“OFC”) on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated in a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Their attorneys are Paul DeMuro and Frederic Dorwart.
The inmates alleged they were incarcerated awaiting trial and had not received restoration treatment services within a constitutionally acceptable time. Oklahoma has only one state-run facility, OFC, located in Vinita, that provides treatment to restore competency for defendants. OFC has a backlog of between 120 to 200 people, which often keeps jail inmates waiting nearly a year or more before receiving restoration treatment.
In addition, plaintiffs alleged that so-called restoration treatment provided in Oklahoma jails is not done by qualified forensic professionals, thus making in-jail restoration to competency virtually impossible.
In a short time, Attorney General Gentner Drummond, representing the state agencies, recognized the state’s practices were fundamentally indefensible. On April 26, 2023, he filed, jointly with the plaintiffs, a motion to stay the case to pursue settlement negotiations. After a year of negotiations, on June 17, 2024, the parties informed the court that they had settled the case and moved for approval of a consent decree that included a plan to remedy the alleged constitutional violations.
The agreed plan included: Re-evaluating all class members for competency restoration; ending the purported in-jail competency restoration program (without ending medical treatment for class members); adding more in-patient forensic beds for competency restoration; improving staffing, training, and environment-of-care standards; implementing continuing education for staff; implementing a competency restoration triage screening program; creating deadlines for competency evaluations; and starting in-jail and community-based restoration treatment pilot programs.
Drummond’s determination to resolve the case quickly by finding a mutually agreeable remedy could be considered an act of political courage. Many, if not most, elected officials might feel the need to engage in a lengthy defense of the state’s practices for two or three years, taking depositions, hiring experts and filing various motions while incurring considerable costs and attorney fees the state would have to pay, only to eventually settle the case.
The governor and ODMHSAS commissioner objected strongly and very publicly to the settlement, based primarily on cost and some disagreement as to the legitimacy of the treatment being provided in the jails. One contributing factor to the disagreement might have been that during the time ODMHSAS was engaged in the negotiations, former ODMHSAS Commissioner Carrie Slatton-Hodges resigned to take a job out of state, and Gov. Stitt appointed a new commissioner, Allie Friesen.
State statute provides that legal settlements costing more than $250,000 must be approved by the Legislature or the Contingency Review Board (CRB) when the legislature is not in regular session. At the urging of the governor and Commissioner Friesen, the CRB rejected the settlement agreement.
At this point, T. Lane Wilson, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Williams Cos., stepped in and offered his services as mediator at no cost. Mr. Wilson is a former federal magistrate judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma with substantial civil mediation involvement. His previous experience as a litigator, his current role as general counsel for a major Oklahoma corporation, and his activities in worthwhile community endeavors like United Way, GRAND Mental Health Advisory Council, Tulsa Habitat for Humanity, Crosstown Learning Center, and a local Tulsa school foundation among others gave him the credibility with the parties to be an honest broker.
With Wilson’s help, the governor and ODMHSAS commissioner, the attorney general and the attorneys for the plaintiffs were able to agree on some changes in the proposed consent decree that both sides consider a win for their respective interests. The amended agreement is to be considered by the Contingency Review Board in January.
There’s not much sympathy for people charged with a crime, especially those who are mentally ill and unable to speak for themselves. The settlement appears to reflect the best in government and in private citizenship. The attorneys DeMuro and Dorwart took on an unpopular cause, Drummond cut through politics and resolved to settle the case, the governor and commissioner came to the table and made reasonable concessions while protecting the state’s interests as they saw them, and Wilson lent his skills for the public good.
But as DeMuro later said, “I think this is a state-of-the-art plan, however, it’s only going to be successful if it’s executed well by the department.” But there will be court monitors and a federal judge watching.
