Facing increasing pressure to dissolve, the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority voted unanimously on Friday to launch a formal review of its performance. The evaluation will examine whether the authority is effective and sustainable, as demands persist for jail operations to be handed back to the county sheriff's office.
The review process was initiated by current Chairman Steven Buck, who said it was time to "look in the mirror."
"At a five-year window, I think it is appropriate for us to help collectively, and with a structured process, determine what is best," he said. "I think that we owe it to the people of this county."
In the five years since the jail trust was created, it has been the subject of near-constant criticism and controversy. Under its purview, the Oklahoma County jail has repeatedly failed health inspections, faced chronic understaffing and poor living conditions and 58 people incarcerated there have died.
In May, the jail again failed its most recent, and eleventh consecutive, inspection.
But Paul Timmons, who has been serving as the interim chief executive officer of the jail since February, told the trust some conditions have improved. He said last month's failed inspection report from the Oklahoma State Department of Health was half as many pages long as the last.
"We feel like we've made reasonably significant progress since December on the inspection process," Timmons said.
He took his post after former jail CEO Brandi Garner suddenly resigned at the beginning of the year.
Timmons also said the jail is anticipating a $5.8 million shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year. He said the Oklahoma County jail is receiving $33.7 million in appropriations from the state's general fund and $5.1 million from the special revenue fund, but the amount needed for payroll, travel and training expenses, maintenance and operations and capital improvements will exceed the allotment.
Members of the public voiced opposition to the trust at the start of the meeting.
"This is a failed experiment," said Mark Faulk, a member of People's Council for Justice Reform.
Joining the public's dissatisfaction, Trust member Rev. Derrick Scobey said it was time to confront the "harsh realities" before the board.
"I sit here today as someone who has witnessed firsthand the challenges, the struggles and failures that have plagued this institution," Scobey said.
Scobey has been part of the trust for three years, serving as one of its longest tenured, non-elected members. There have been about 30 different trust members on the nine-member board in the last five years, Scobey said. He said all departures were resignations, save one.
"In my time as a trust member, I have witnessed a cascade of systemic failures that have undermined public confidence, endangered lives and called into question the very ability to fulfill this fundamental mandate that we have of operating a safe, secure and humane detention facility," he said.
Scobey said contraband entering the jail has reached alarming proportions, he mentioned instances and allegations of sexual assault, staff misconduct and the high turnover rate in leadership.
He told the trust he was prepared to make a motion to completely disband, but changed his mind because of "new information that came to light in the last week and a half."
Scobey did not specify what information he was referring to, simply that he spoke with a group of individuals "working on innovative approaches to bring additional revenue into our jail operations."
He said if oversight is simply shifted to Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson without any improvements or changes in funding, they trust would effectively be crippling him.
"The problems are not merely operational," Scobey said. "They are systemic, they are structural, and in many cases, rooted in chronic underfunding that has left us unable to maintain adequate staffing, proper facilities or comprehensive programming that could address the root causes."
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