Innovative Oklahoma / Corrections Connection, 17 Jan 2007
http://www.corrections.com:80/news/article.aspx?articleid=14919
Sarah Etter
"In Oklahoma a new partnership between corrections and community resources is making front page headlines. On February 1st, the state will kick off its Integrated Treatment Discharge Planning program with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. “Everyone in the state agreed we needed to do a better job of releasing mentally ill offenders,” explains the OKDOC’s chief mental health officer. “This is a nationwide problem, but Oklahoma is just starting to experience the brunt of what other states are dealing with, in terms of the mentally ill being incarcerated. The trend we’re seeing right now is essentially de-institutionalization to re-institutionalization.”