Oklahoma Watch: At least 28 detainee deaths in 2022 due to mental illness, substance abuse

An investigative report by Oklahoma Watch found more than half of Oklahoma detainee deaths from 2022 were caused by untreated mental health and substance abuse conditions.

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) -- An investigative report by Oklahoma Watch found more than half of Oklahoma detainee deaths from 2022 were caused by untreated mental health and substance abuse conditions.

The study eludes to the fact that the detainees and the people supposed to care for them are set up for failure.

"Jail staff don't seem to know what to do. Police don't seem to know what to do. People continue to pass this person around," said Whitney Bryen, an investigative reporter for Oklahoma Watch. "And jails are kind of the end of that road right now."

Bryen said last year, she pulled numbers from three state agencies tracking detainee deaths in Oklahoma.

"We didn't have the database, which means there's no analysis that can happen about who died in these jails and what happened to them," said Bryen. "If we're not tracking it and we're not analyzing it and looking at what's happening, then we can't fix the problem."

Bryen said those lists came from the State Health Department, State Medical Examiner, and the district attorney's council. All three lists were different.

"There was some overlap and then there were people on each of the lists that were not on other lists And there were also people I knew of who were missing," said Bryen. "I think that says a lot about how little our state thinks about and works on this issue."

Bryen said in 2022, untreated mental health and substance abuse conditions killed 28 of the 53 detainees who died in jail. Bryen believes there are more.

She said jails are supposed to report the deaths to the OSDH, but the department lacked legal enforcement power.

"As I reported earlier this year, places like the Pottawattamie County Jail, for instance, don't always do that," said Bryen. "Of the eight deaths, six of those were never reported to the health Department. Even today, they have not been reported."

Many of the inmates landed in jail from misdemeanors or felonies stemming from their illness. They lacked the resources needed for treatment.

"Jails often become the default holding facility for people with mental illness," said Bryen. "Police eventually get to a point where if the hospital's not keeping them, they don't feel like there are many other options than to take them to a jail, which has to accept them."

Then, they're being cared for by minimally trained and paid detention officers, causing high turnover rates.

"These folks, they are not EMTs or paramedics. They're not mental health professionals," said Bryen.

So how do we fix it? Bryen suggests we start by caring.

"As a state, we need to clarify how people with mental illness are supposed to be helped," she said.

Read Bryen's full findings on Oklahoma Watch's website.