Tulsa County Drug Court to Reconsider Use of Work-Camp Rehab

Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | 0

Tulsa County's drug court will reconsider sending offenders to the Christian Alcoholics and Addicts in Recovery program after an investigative report raised questions about the organization's legality and treatment of participants, the Tulsa World newspaper reported.

The story from Reveal, a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting, reported that most participants are required to work at dangerous poultry-processing plants without pay as a condition of their "rehabilitation."

A resident of the area told the Tulsa World that CAAIR's Delaware County facility is referred to locally as the "slave farm."

CAAIR is not a licensed rehabilitation program and provides no drug rehabilitation besides 12-step program meetings. It requires participants to work long hours at the poultry-processing plant and attend mandatory Bible study.

A spokeswoman for the agency that administers Tulsa's drug court said the court does not send people with active addictions or mental health issues to CAAIR.

But in 2014, the court sent Donald Basford to CAAIR despite a documented history of severe mental problems. The 36-year-old complained to CAAIR staffers that he was "losing it" without his medication, but the program prohibits psychiatric medicine and doesn't employ trained medical staff.

Basford ended up running away from CAAIR's facility. He was found dead in a car in a church parking lot a few weeks later, according to an autopsy report.