Tulsa Municipal Court Special Services Docket Celebrates 10 Years

5/15/2024

The City of Tulsa Municipal Court is commemorating the 10th anniversary of its Special Services docket.

The Special Services Docket is designed to assist individuals who have mental illness, substance abuse, and homelessness and have committed low-level municipal offenses. Instead of serving jail time and paying fines and fees, participants are matched with a case manager for a six-month program. Upon successful completion of the program, participants may have their charges dismissed and fines, fees, and court costs suspended. In some cases, court records may also be expunged.

"Over the past decade, the Special Services Docket has provided hope to hundreds of Tulsans, thanks to the hard work of our municipal court staff and our community partners." Mayor G.T. Bynum said. "Instead of being trapped in a cycle of debt and incarceration, graduates are given tools to build a personal path to success and rehabilitation."

The Special Services docket is a collaborative effort between the City of Tulsa Municipal Court, Mental Health Association Oklahoma, and other service providers.

In addition to the success of the Special Services docket, in 2020, the Tulsa City Council established the Fines and Fees Working Group to address the underlying causes of municipal offenses and develop programs that ensure every person has an equitable path to achieving compliance with the law, regardless of their financial status. The group evaluated every part of the citizen's experience to improve these outcomes. In 2021, the working group helped expand the Special Services docket to more citizens by funding it through the ARPA funds.

"The Special Services Docket has a proven history of connecting individuals to services while at the same time vastly reducing the likelihood of the same individuals reoffending in the future," District 8 City Councilor Phil Lakin said. "Doubling the size of the docket will help us serve more people and continue to achieve positive community outcomes."

"The participants are paired up with case managers from the therapeutics community who work with them to gain access to the services they need. Upon graduation, the participants' open charges are dismissed at zero cost to them.," Judge Gerald Hofmeister said. "In order to succeed, they have to live up to promises, attend, behave, communicate, and look for direction in life. Those are the things that will propel them through the program, and those are the goals we want them to meet."

The Special Services Docket is a key component of the City's Path to Home Initiative, which brings together a comprehensive list of programming and policy work related to Housing, Homelessness, and Mental Health.