Grand Jury recommends Jail Trust ‘self-terminate’ — Sheriff run jail

Last Updated on August 6, 2023, 3:06 AM | Published: March 24, 2023

OKLAHOMA CITY — The state multicounty grand jury issued its public report late Thursday recommending that the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority (OCCJA) or Jail Trust “self-terminate” and the Governor approve.

With that, the Grand Jury (MCGJ) recommends that the Oklahoma County Sheriff take over supervision of the Oklahoma County Detention Center (OCDC) or jail once again.

“One primary reason to return to the Sheriff-administered jail structure is that, at a minimum, the Sheriff, an elected official, can be held accountable through the election process,” the report says.

The current elected Oklahoma County Sheriff is Tommie Johnson, III, and would be the one running the Jail if the trust decided to follow the Grand Jury’s recommendations.

The report is focused on many administrative problems and recommendations for their solution. There is no mention of indictments by the MCGJ. But, there is mention of ongoing criminal investigations by the Oklahoma County DA’s office.

“Since crimes and criminal acts by employees and inmates of the jail remain within the purview of the Oklahoma County District Attorney, the primary focus of District Attorney Thorp’s investigation has been the OCCJA and the administration of the OCDC,” the report states.

Significantly, the MCGJ looked into an ongoing refrain from activists that there was a real estate conspiracy connected to the idea for a new OCDC at another location in the County. “After a thorough investigation by the OSBI, including consultation with developers, county officials, and members of community action coalitions, no evidence of wrongdoing was discovered,” reads the report. (See the full, 15-page report embedded at the bottom.)

Background

The Jail Trust as the entity running the jail was an idea pushed hard by former Oklahoma County Commissioner Kevin Calvey and an ad hoc group, the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council sponsored by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

The public never voted on the establishment of the trust.

Instead, the Trust was established by a vote of the Oklahoma County Commissioners May 22, 2019, was filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State June 10, 2019, and, went into effect July 1, 2020.

But, because the Trust was not ready, the actual control of the jail by a hired CEO was not complete until later in the summer of 2020.

Jail Trust response

Later in the day after the MCGJ report was released, a short, official news release gave a preliminary response.

“The Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority looks forward to carefully reviewing the Grand Jury’s report on the operations and management of the Oklahoma County Detention Center. The members of the trust and employees have fully cooperated throughout the entire process.”

Both acting chair Ben Brown and interim CEO of the OCDC expressed hope in solving the many problems of the Jail.

Recommendations

The MCGJ made the following recommendations:

• The Jail Trust “self-terminate” and Governor Stitt approve.
• The current OCDC facility be replaced by a “new, safer, and more secure facility.”
• Continue cooperating with the Oklahoma State Department of Health to “improve conditions that inmates endure….”
• Site checks on each detainee should be carried out every half hour.
• Do more extensive background checks on those being hired.
• To attract a more capable workforce, the OCCJA should raise the beginning salary and add a signing bonus.
• Hire an additional 100 detention officers. The addition will “save inmates lives.”
• All deaths in the jail be investigated as homicides and that the OK County DA review the findings.
• Purchase a narcotics K9 for utilization within the Oklahoma County Jail.
• All employees, contractors, investigators, inmates, trustees of the OCCJA, and visitors submit to body searches before gaining entrance to secure areas.
• The OCDC should remain open and not be closed as some have suggested.

Ongoing problems identified

• The prevalence of illegal drugs within the OCDC is described in the report as “horrific” and the main cause of so many deaths of detainees. The MCGJ praised recent efforts at drug interdiction such as body searches and x-ray scans of employees.
• Employees of the contract medical provider, Turn Key Health, are NOT subject to body searches like other employees of the Jail.
• Jail Trust has no way to raise funds specifically for the operation of the Jail except by way of the county budgeting process.
• By design, only two members of the Trust are elected by voters. The rest are appointed and the president chosen by the Trust members themselves.
• By design, the Jail Trust can only be disolved by a majority of its members and approval of the Governor.
• “While meetings and actions of the OCCJA are public in nature, the OCCJA itself is not subject to recall or removal by election,” states the report.
• No member of the current Jail Trust “has training or experience in the administration of a correction facility.”
• “The facility has design and construction problems that have caused significant issues and ledto an unsafe environment for inmates.”
• “The MCGI believes that inadequate staffing, funding, surveillance, and training, coupled with poor law enforcement protocols, led to the significant loss of life within the jail.”
• Staff have failed to investigate drug overdose deaths as homicides.
• Investigations of death in the jail were not routinely submitted to the District Attorney for review.

Follow Free Press for regular reporting on Oklahoma County government, including the Jail Trust.

Full report

This is the full report by the MCGJ:

Multi-county-grand-jury-report-3-23-23

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