Former county jail up for auction
WAURIKA — When the Oklahoma Corrections Department ended contracts to hold state prisoners in county jails, Jefferson County lost out on revenue for the 80 or so inmates that were kept in Waurika.
Left with an empty set of buildings just 10 minutes from the Texas border, the county transferred the site back to its original owner. The detention center is now up for public auction Nov. 29.
Ricky Martin, chair of the county board of commissioners, said local inmates are now kept across the street in the county courthouse.
Losing the Corrections Department revenue stream in March hurt the county’s pocket, he said.
“If they could prove they were saving money I’d be OK with it,
but they haven’t proved it,” Martin said. “That’s life for the smaller counties.”
The Corrections Department originally estimated that ending the contracts for Jefferson and nine other county jails would free up $775,000 for other needs.
“The men that we were housing in Jefferson County weren’t receiving any access to the programming that they needed,” department spokesman Matt Elliott said. “It’s not the state agency’s responsibility to pay for county buildings or other local responsibilities. We shouldn’t be on the hook for that.”
The courthouse jail that Sheriff Jeremie Wilson uses now needs a lot of work to keep it up to standards, Martin said. Wilson could not be reached for comment.
“It’s not one of the modern ones,” Martin said. “Just like everything else in Jefferson County, it’s old. But we do a pretty good job with the money we get.”
The county commissioners haven’t discussed building a replacement because they simply can’t afford it.
“If it comes down to it,
I don’t think in the history of the state of Oklahoma that there’s been a prison, or detention center, sold at public auction.”
auctioneer Louis Dakil
we’ve talked about housing our prisoners at the closest facility, but then Jefferson County would have to pay to keep the prisoners there,” said Martin. “It’s a no-win situation.”
While government buildings occasionally go on the auction block, auctioneer Louis Dakil can’t remember a jail being sold.
“I don’t think in the history of the state of Oklahoma that there’s been a prison, or detention center, sold at public auction,” said Dakil, whose Oklahoma City firm is overseeing the auction next week.
Still, he said, it’s like any other piece of property.
Potential uses include converting it to a storage center, construction facility or even a place for troubled youths or people in drug rehabilitation.
“It’s also sitting on quite a bit of land,” said Dakil.