Despite the growth in that population, almost $300,000 has been poured into the community by local non-profit agencies to prevent homelessness, according to the Community Service Council. And at the same time, 587 veterans and 176 chronic homeless people have been housed since 2015.
The Tulsa residents are considered“super users” — a relatively small group of people who account for a disproportionate amount of calls made to the city’s 911 system — sometimes more than 100 times per year — for nonemergency situations.
In 2016, the state’s Department of Corrections collected just over $250,000 in medical copays. That same year, the agency spent about $84.4 million on health care — up almost 35 percent from FY 2011.
Office of Juvenile Affairs records show in less than five years, staff have used pepper spray in 52 incidents on 62 children. The agency is considering expediting its plan to get rid of it.
Though the Sheriff’s Office is facing almost a dozen lawsuits related to deaths and injuries, some mental health advocates say it has come a long way.
The 10 cases reviewed by The Frontier add up to one in three inmate deaths in the last decade that experts and medical records state might have been prevented with better care.
