{"id":731534,"date":"2023-12-15T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oklahomawatch.org\/?p=731534"},"modified":"2024-01-04T17:44:01","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T23:44:01","slug":"these-oklahomans-needed-mental-health-care-instead-they-died-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oklahomawatch.org\/2023\/12\/15\/these-oklahomans-needed-mental-health-care-instead-they-died-in-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"These Oklahomans Needed Mental Health Care. Instead, They Died in Jail."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lena Corona was sitting on the porch of her Seminole home, blood dripping from her hand, when police arrived at 2:45 a.m. Her dad stood behind her, pressing a T-shirt over the wound on his chest where Corona had plunged a shard of glass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he called 911 on July 10, Freddy Corona hoped police would take his teenage daughter to the hospital as they had done fewer than 24 hours earlier when she threatened him with a metal rod while in psychosis. But over her dad\u2019s objections, the police arrested the 18-year-old for assault and battery with a deadly weapon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At St. Anthony Hospital, officers sought medical care for the cut on Lena Corona\u2019s hand. Corona told emergency room nurses that she was defending herself from dark spirits, according to Cpl. Melissa Sharp\u2019s incident report. After medical staff cleared Corona, Sharp drove her to the Seminole County jail where she was admitted while still in psychosis, a symptom of her diagnosed mental illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hours after Corona was booked into jail, her sister called and told a jailer that Corona had been prescribed medication for her bipolar 1 disorder the last time she was hospitalized but had stopped taking it triggering psychosis. She asked the jailer to make sure her sister received treatment. She responded by telling her Corona\u2019s bail was $7,500, money the family didn\u2019t have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shawna Normali held up her favorite photo of her daughter, Lena Corona. (Whitney Bryen\/Oklahoma Watch)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Across the state and country, families like the Coronas can’t access sufficient health care for their loved ones and turn to police for help in a crisis. With law enforcement involved, emergency situations can escalate quickly, leading to arrests and incarceration in jails where detention officers with minimal training are responsible for the health and safety of detainees, which can have fatal consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought a couple of days in there would be OK,\u201d Freddy Corona said. \u201cAt least she\u2019d be safe in there for a few days until we could figure everything out. Instead, she just got worse and worse and no one did anything to help her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tthe latest<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Oklahoma\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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Oklahoma Health Department Refuses to Share County-Level Measles Data<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tAvatar photo<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby<\/span> Paul Monies<\/a><\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t