Oklahoma County Jail

The Oklahoma County Board of County Commissioners on Monday decided to give $15 million in coronavirus relief funds to a program designed to help businesses, nonprofits and other community organizations hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The body entrusted with running the Oklahoma County Jail reconsidered a vote to remove an ICE agent from the jail on Monday. The vote occurred as the jail trust faces a lawsuit demanding cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Despite controversy and legal concerns, Oklahoma County will allot nearly all of its coronavirus relief funding to its jail.

Control of the state’s largest county jail could be placed under the authority of a public-private trust according to a plan considered Thursday by an Oklahoma County advisory group.

Local government has taken another step to improve cooperation between law enforcement and conditions in the Oklahoma County Jail.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections interim director Joe Allbaugh told his staff Friday to stop sending inmates to the Oklahoma County Jail.

The order came after Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater suggested county commissioners consider cancelling their contract with the state, The Journal Record’s Brian Brus reports:

Oklahoma County district attorney David Prater has convinced the federal government to take a step back from possible litigation while the county tries to solve overcrowding and disrepair at the jail facility.

The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed not to take the county to court over the issues for the next two years while a criminal justice task force studies the issue more deeply, The Journal Record’s Dale Denwalt reports:

The sewage problems at the Oklahoma County’s beleaguered jail continue. In an echo of last year, sewage lines at the jail overflowed recently, flooding an unknown number of cells.

The incident mirrored a problem from 2014 in which a sewage line under the building collapsed and prevented county officials from using the kitchen for months.

On Tuesday a half-dozen protesters took to the sidewalk in front of the jail. They said they wanted the public to know just how bad conditions were in the facility, with one calling it “the worst jail in America.”

Friction between the state's new prisons director and some county sheriffs is flaring up because of a pair of bills in the state Legislature.

Robert Patton began taking inmates out of county jails shortly after he started at the Department of Corrections about a year ago.

That move angered many sheriffs who count on the $27-per-day the state pays for housing the inmates to help maintain county jail operations.

Corrections officials are now pushing two bills to delay when the department begins paying counties for housing a state inmate.

Leaders in Oklahoma County are awaiting feedback from the Department of Justice on whether the agency will force a tax increase to pay for improvements to the county jail.

District 3 Commissioner Ray Vaughn says the county informed the department they've done all they can to improve conditions at the lockup without any new funding from a tax increase.

Vaughn tells The Journal Record that the commission sent a letter updating the federal government shortly before the shutdown Oct. 1. The county has not yet received a response.