Last Updated on June 1, 2020, 6:40 PM | Published: June 1, 2020
The Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, better known as the Jail Trust, met Monday afternoon to further prepare for the transition of the Jail from the Sheriff’s Office to the care of the Trust.
Date Set
The Trust unanimously approved of July 1 as the date to take over control of the Jail. CEO Greg Williams gave a brief update saying that over 300 employees have completed paperwork to transfer their employment to the Trust.
Williams and his CFO, Mark McCubbin, made a presentation of needs upcoming that will require funding from the County Budget Board and Board of County Commissioners. The needs were broken up into three categories: Immediate Needs, Short Term Needs, and First Year Needs.
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The Immediate Needs listed by McCubbin included office furniture, IT assistance and infrastructure, some automotive costs, and payroll insurance. The estimated cost of these is $310,000. The Short Term Needs are for the next month’s utility payments and IT needs. The estimated cost of these needs is $675,000. For the next year, McCubbin and Williams estimate an additional $2,000,000 in IT costs.
The Trust approved a request of $985,000 to meet the immediate and short term needs.
Contracts
A number of contracts were approved for services at the Jail. First was an agreement with Keefe Commissary Network for commissary services in the jail. Williams has touted this as a distinct improvement to existing commissary services as it will start with two commissary cart visits a week and shortly will graduate to three visits per week. Currently there is only one commissary cart visit per week.
The Trust also approved a contract with Summit Food Service for meal services in the Jail. Williams explained that Summit would staff the kitchen and possibly use inmate labor for some food prep, but that jail staff would only be required for security for the kitchen area.
Phone Costs
A contract with Securis Techonologies for phone services came before the Trust.
Trustee Francie Ekwerekwu balked at the contract, pointing out that she had only been able to review it since this morning. She asked if a better rates for detainee phone calls could be negotiated.
It was explained that the contract in question reduced the price of calls by 21% from 25¢ to 19.75¢ per minute. Included in that negotiation were free services including phone calls with attorneys and case managers, and tablet access to the law library. The Trust approved the contract with the agreement that they would revisit the rate in three months.
Meeting Date
The Trust unanimously agreed to change the date of their regular meeting to coincide with the county’s payment systems. The meetings will now be held on the third Monday of each month at 1 p.m. instead of on the first Monday at the same time.
The next meeting of this trust will be on June 22 at 1 p.m. and will likely be the last meeting of the Trust before their takeover of the Jail.
Columnist covering local government in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County from May 2019 through June 2023.
