OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — Four detainees — three male, one female — were engaging in some sort of “detainee misconduct” in one hallway near the booking area at the Oklahoma County Detention Center (Jail) Friday. That much has been confirmed.
A prepared statement from Greg Williams, CEO of the Jail, and a message from the Director of Communications Mark Opgrande to Free Press confirmed that much specific information Saturday while carefully avoiding saying what the activity was, but that it was “consensual among all participants.”
Neither Williams nor Opgrande were willing to confirm if the “misconduct” was the four having sex but the language of the statement certainly lends itself to that conclusion.
KOCO News in OKC went further Friday and reported that the “misconduct” was the four engaging in sexual activity, evidently unsupervised.
This comes after another female detainee who had been shackled to a bar in a hallway near booking, and then left unattended, was raped in July by a male detainee who had slipped away from detention officers in the booking area. Oklahoma County DA David Prater has filed one count of rape and one alternate count of attempted rape against Danta Ramone Thomas who was being booked for other offenses when he allegedly assaulted the female detainee.
In this case, Jail officials have been insistent that the activity Friday was “consensual.”
“Through routine observation, our staff became aware of detainee misconduct occurring near our intake operations,” Williams said in a prepared statement. “We immediately halted the activity, which according to our investigation was consensual among all participants.”
“Our staff remains committed to providing a safe, secure and orderly environment for detainees, and we will use this incident to review our procedures and potentially make updates,” William’s statement concluded.
The Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority or Jail Trust has been operating the Oklahoma County Jail since July 1, 2020 with Greg Williams employed by the Trust as the CEO. Previously, the Oklahoma County Sheriff ran the Jail.
Brett is the founder, and editor in chief of Oklahoma City Free Press. He continues to contribute reporting and photography to the efforts of the publication as well as leadership in developing support.
