Tulsa mental health court overwhelmed

TULSA -- Tulsa County's Mental Health Court is having to deny services to some nonviolent but mentally ill criminal defendants because demand is exceeding the court's ability to provide them.

As of July 1, about a year after launching operations, the therapeutic court had 38 active participants. About three times that many defendants who were referred to the program have been declined admission for a variety of reasons.

The specialized court received state funding to fit in a caseload of 50 people.

Mental Health Court provides an alternative to incarceration, with an emphasis on monitoring and accountability, for criminal offenders who have been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses.

Participation is voluntary, and people who want in can't claim that they are innocent. Prosecutors have veto authority to keep a candidate from being admitted.

At the time of their admission into the program, Mental Health Court participants have faced an assortment of charges, such as drug possession, larceny, unauthorized use of a vehicle, burglary, driving under the influence of alcohol, false impersonation, malicious injury to property and obstructing an officer.

Charges involving certain violent crimes are grounds for automatic exclusion, but the court is treating some defendants who are charged with assault and battery, including a couple who are charged with assault and battery on a police officer.

Defense lawyer Larry Edwards, who has two clients in Mental Health Court, said the program provides additional treatment they couldn't get in another court.

He thinks court officials, in deciding whom to let in, are eliminating people with aggressive tendencies who could benefit from the services available.

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