New Partnership Offers More Mental Health Services To Inmates At Tulsa Municipal Jail

The Tulsa Police Department has started a new partnership with Family and Children’s Services.

The city hopes that offering mental health and substance abuse services at the Tulsa Municipal Jail will help inmates and the community.

"It's really our duty to not only do what we do proactively and we arrest people that commit crimes, but we should be actively working towards keeping them out of this jail," said Major Travis Yates.

Major Yates says the goal of the Tulsa Police Department's partnership with Family and Children's Services is to get to the root of crime by helping people in jail and when they get out.

"Typically, with the homeless population our clients are very transient and sometimes it is very hard to find them and sometimes we find them in the jail," said Kathy Loeher, Program Director of Family & Children's Services.

Loeher says this partnership is about providing treatment for mental health and substance abuse, shelter, and food for those who need it most.

"We have case managers that will be in the jail every day to provide assessments and some coordination for services, provide some referrals so when they do release from the jail they have somewhere to go, they have a plan," Loehr said.

Police hope that this will help prevent crimes before it happens.

"Nobody asked to have mental health issues, but we have a percentage in our population that suffers from that disease and often time it's an underlying issue that they end up with us,” Yates said.

These services are now available for individuals at Tulsa Municipal Jail who are in need.