Criticism Of Mental Patient Handcuffed To Gate Of Vinta Facility

State Health officials are outraged after a mental patient is handcuffed to a fence. Ottawa County Sheriff's deputies were transferring a 32-year-old woman from the county jail in Miami to the mental

Tuesday, May 9th 2006, 6:24 am

By: News On 6

State Health officials are outraged after a mental patient is handcuffed to a fence. Ottawa County Sheriff's deputies were transferring a 32-year-old woman from the county jail in Miami to the mental hospital in Vinita.

After arriving, the hospital refused to admit her. Sheriffâ€™s deputies say they had no other choice but to leave her there. They handcuffed her to a movable gate, in front of a security guard.

The State Health Secretary is appalled by the treatment of the woman. Oklahoma Department of Mental Health commissioner Terry Cline: "to me this takes me back to the dark ages when we had individuals that is being shackled to beds, and shackled to walls. Which I thought we were far beyond.â€

A complaint will be filed against the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's office says the deputies were acting on legal advice from the Ottawa County DA's office.

The woman was not hurt and she ended up staying at the facility.