Detainee dies in Okla County Jail — 5th in 2024

OKLAHOMA CITY — A detainee in the Oklahoma County Detention Center or Jail was found dead in his cell during breakfast Monday, July 29.

During a site check around 6:30 AM, detention officers discovered Timothy Lee Hardin, 21, “unresponsive in his assigned holding cell,” according to a press release from jail administration.

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Timothy Hardin, Booking photo OCDC

Officers began efforts to save Hardin’s life and called for assistance from the jail’s medical staff who arrived and took over as they waited for EMS and the OKC Fire Department to arrive.

The efforts to revive Hardin failed and he was pronounced dead.

His death is the fifth for the jail in 2024.

Per protocol, all deaths in the Oklahoma County Jail are investigated as homicides until the Oklahoma Medical Examiner has determined the cause of death.

The jail had seven deaths in 2023 and has had over 40 since the Jail Trust took over operations of the jail from the Oklahoma County Sheriff in 2020.

Hardin was booked into the jail on May 15.

Turn Key Health is the contractor for all medical and mental health services in the Oklahoma County Jail. Oklahoma State Representative Jon Echols is the co-founder and until recently was the president. It is unclear what his role in the company is in 2024.


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Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.