NEWS

Oklahoma County jail trust elects chairwoman, hears report on jail conditions

Kayla Branch
The Oklahoma County Jail, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. [Doug Hoke/The Oklahoman]

Members of Oklahoma County’s newly created jail trust elected a chair and vice chair and discussed the most glaring issues at the jail facility, among other things, during their first meeting Monday afternoon.

Tricia Everest, former assistant attorney general for Oklahoma and a civic and philanthropic leader, will serve as chair. Jim Couch, the former Oklahoma City city manager, will serve as vice chair.

The trust, officially known as the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, was created by the county commissioners to provide better oversight of finances and operations at the troubled county jail. There are nine trust members, including a public defender, philanthropists, politicians, the county sheriff and a county commissioner.

Members heard from Oklahoma County engineer Stacey Trumbo on the most severe problems currently facing the county jail, such as mold, bursting pipes and poor ventilation.

Trumbo said there are multiple ongoing projects to correct some of those issues, and costs are in the millions.

“No solutions are simple and are always very costly,” he told trust members.

Since many trust members have been involved in discussions on the county jail before, there were questions over previous ideas and initiatives to improve conditions. Trumbo said he believes the high cost of the projects and the jail’s low budget kept anything from being finalized over the years.

Going forward, the trust must decide if a new jail facility will be built, who will manage and operate the jail and how to address funding issues.

Trustee Ben Brown said he was not convinced that a new jail needed to be built and will push for the trust to move forward in picking a management style. The jail can either continue to be ran by the sheriff’s office, be managed by a private company or be run by an outside jail administrator.

Sheriff P.D. Taylor said funding is his main priority, and he believes a new county-wide sales tax could be the best option for ongoing operations and maintenance costs.

Commissioner Kevin Calvey said he is not interested in raising taxes until the county can go through its budget and fix any inefficiencies.

“There are still a lot of unanswered questions,” Taylor said.

Also, MAPS 4, the city’s next sales tax initiative, may include some type of mental health treatment facility that could be used as a way to divert inmates from the county jail. Everest said she’s encouraged by the public interest in moving projects like that along, but there still is not enough information to say how those decisions will impact the trust or the jail.

“We have a lot of information needed in a timely manner to make the best decisions,” Everest said. “For now, our priorities will be understanding what our authority is, making sure that we work well with the county and the sheriff’s office and with the commissioners to determine how best to proceed, and to certainly fix any of the immediate needs presented to us.”

“I look forward to working with the county budget and putting together the puzzle the best we can.”