Sheriff can walk away from jail, ADA says
For anyone who thought Oklahoma County Sheriff P. D. Taylor's declaration that he would stop operating the jail on Jan. 1 was an empty threat, that doesn't seem to be the case.
At Wednesday morning' s county commissioners meeting, Assistant District Attorney Aaron Et he ring ton said she believes the sheriff can walk away from the jail on Jan. 1, regardless of whether any formal date or agreement has been set by the commissioners or the jail trust, a legal body formed to take over the jail.
“It is the constitutional duty of the sheriff to run the jail until and unless that is turned over to the jail trust ,” stated Commissioner Kevin Calvey during the meeting, to which Etherington said “No.”
“He can just walk away?” Calvey asked.
“I believe he can, yes,” she responded.
This was the first public declaration from the DA's office that the sheriff could walk away from the jail even if the trust and/or the county are not totally ready for the transition.
When the sheriff announced his surprise deadline last week, commissioners and jail trust members were frustrated with the short notice and unclear whether the sheriff had the authority to make such a move.
Oklahoma statutes do say it is the duty of a sheriff's office to run the county jail, but it also states that if commissioners choose to create a jail trust, the trust will take over those duties. No timeline is clearly defined in the statutes.
Danny Honeycutt, legal counsel to the sheriff's office, said that because the jail trust has been legally created, the responsibility falls on them.
“There is a constitutional duty for the sheriff's office to maintain custody and control of the inmates and their care,” Honeycutt said. “However, the reality is the duty has changed since the creation of the trust … . That is my interpretation.”
RayMcN air, executive director of the Oklahoma Sheriffs' Association, echoed that understanding, saying there should have been more preparation on the part of the county before creating a trust.
“If they all along had plans to establish a trust, before they drew up the documents and formed the legal entity, it would have probably been best on their part to have all their ducks in a row,” he said.
But McNair pointed back to the trust indenture, which is the legal document governing how the trust should operate.
“Not having read the indenture, I couldn't tell you at what point in time does the sheriff no longer have responsibility for the jail. If he was not written into the trust documents, then in my opinion, he has no responsibility to run it,” McNair said. “So I think the sheriff is taking the advice of his DA's office, which is his legal counsel, and if they say that he can set a deadline, then I guess he can set a deadline.”
The sheriff was included in the indenture, which says the sheriff “shall continue to operate the jail facilities until such time as the (trust) and the (county) shall enter into a lease agreement and/ or funding agreements” that specifically state a start date for the trust to take over. No such agreements have taken place.
Etherington could not be reached for comment to clarify.
Commissioner Carrie Blumert said she was surprised by Etherington's comments, but she is focused on being prepared for the Jan. 1 transition deadline either way. That includes changing contracts, taking inventory and amending the county benefits and retirement policies.
“In a perfect world, we would have worked all of this out and then voted on a trust and then the sheriff would walk out and the trust would take over,” she said. “So now we have two months to answer a lot of these questions, and I don't know if everyone involved understands the amount of work that we have to do to officially hand over the jail. And that is my biggest concern.”
Commissioners did discuss a suggestion from the DA's office to form the “Oklahoma County Detention Center Transition Committee,” which would handle working through the details of the transition and give other county officials recommendations.
But there was concern over who would serve on the committee, so further discussions were moved to Monday.
“I think we've given the trust four to five months to work through a lot of things, and it's time now for us on the county side to really put our heads down and figure stuff out and work,” Blumert said. “I hope on Monday that we can come to a solution.”