Last Updated on November 8, 2022, 11:53 AM | Published: November 7, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma County — The Criminal Justice Authority (Jail Trust) held their monthly meeting which included a prolonged public comment time.
During that segment, the Trust heard a broad spectrum of concerned residents of Oklahoma County plead with them to remove the Jail CEO Greg Williams.
This follows on the heels of a press conference held recently by the Concerned Clergy for Spiritual Renewal.
After hearing Williams’s monthly report on Jail operations, the Trust considered in executive session the future of Williams’ employment as the CEO.
But, in the end, Williams still had enough support among members of the Trust to survive the attempt to push him out.
Marty Peercy reports Local government
Extensive public comment
A significant portion of Monday’s meeting was taken up with the Public Comment portion of the meeting. Public Comment is welcomed at the beginning of each meeting, before any agenda items have been discussed.
Among those who addressed the Trust were community leaders, faith leaders, activists, and advocates. Many made similar comments, almost all calling for the removal of Greg Williams as CEO of the Trust.
Topics of comments included the following:
- Accessibility to hygiene products and hygiene budget for the jail
- Treatment of jail staff, and general under-staffing
- The chronic repetition of deaths in the jail
- An absence of accountability for these deaths
- Muslim detainees being denied their religious rights
- The court system continuing to fill the jail
One member of the public used his entire allotted three minutes to hold a moment of silence for all who have died in the Jail.
Pastor John Reed of Fairview Baptist Church was in attendance and repeated his calls for action that he enumerated at the press conference he led a couple of weeks before.
Local advocate Jess Eddy also made reference to the earlier press conference by calling out Trust Chair Jim Couch’s response to the clergy’s concerns. Eddy correctly pointed out that Couch’s statement was received by the press before the press conference was over. Eddy said this meant Couch didn’t listen to the pastors.
Williams’ report
The only response to these comments from the Trust was a resolution acknowledging the concerns and requests of the clergy. The resolution, of course, was written and presented days before the meeting. The resolution was unanimously adopted.
After that, Williams came forward to offer his monthly report on operations of the Jail. Very few details in areas of concern were revealed in his report, however, Pastor Derrick Scobey had some very pointed questions for Williams following.
Scobey asked specifically how it was possible that a female detainee was raped by a male detainee while in custody and handcuffed to a rail.
Scobey recalled several meetings with Williams and involving other members of the Trust and/or community that have resulted in nothing.
He specifically recalled, he said, Williams blaming the District Attorney’s office for “dragging their feet” in filing charges.
Williams replied that words were being put in his mouth.
Prater’s forceful response
As it happened, DA David Prater was in the front row of the meeting and offered an explanation to the Trust.
What came next was a damning timeline of the Jail administration’s failure to supply the DA’s office with a probable cause affidavit and prosecution packet, standard procedure for filing charges for crimes committed in the Jail.
The DA’s office, according to Prater, contacted the jail repeatedly over the course of two weeks without receiving needed materials for charging a defendant with rape.
The assault happened on July 15 and charges were not filed until mid-September. Prater explained this as being squarely on the shoulders of the Jail administration, as well as the alleged perpetrator being released from the jail the same day as the assault that was caught on security camera.
At that point, Scobey addressed his fellow Trust Members to say that his point was simply that, with Williams, “It’s always somebody else’s fault.”
Trust support
The Executive Session held at the end of the meeting lasted for one hour and seventeen minutes. The main item for consideration during the session was Williams’s ongoing employment with the Trust.
Upon returning to open session, Adam Luck made a motion to add to December’s agenda a discussion of the Trust’s expectations of Williams’s work performance and a performance review. This passed.
Following that, Pastor Scobey asked for a video presentation to be displayed. The presentation included a series of videos, first some taken inside the jail by detainees showing the circumstances of their imprisonment, followed by numerous news stories about deaths, assaults, and inhumane conditions in the jail.
The presentation ended with silence as the faces of people who died in the Jail under Williams and the Jail Trust were shown.
Scobey then made extensive and passionate comments about the current state of the Jail and William’s responsibility.
Ultimately, Scobey moved for the termination of Greg Williams.
Members Ben Brown, Chad Alexander, Jim Couch, and to the surprise of some, Sue Ann Arnall each voiced support for maintaining Williams in his current capacity.
The motion died for want of a second.
The Trust meets again on December 5 at 1:00 p.m. unless a special meeting is scheduled before.
Columnist covering local government in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County from May 2019 through June 2023.
