Sheriff 's office cleared in teen inmate's death
An investigation and review of the Oklahoma County sheriff' s office after the death of a 16- year-old in mate in May showed no misconduct of jail employees, though there are recom mended changes to policies around detained juveniles.
After the death of the juvenile in mate in the county jail, which was ruled a suicide, the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth ( OCCY) reviewed surveillance videos and other documentation.
The commission is a state agency that will investigate complaints on services provided to and treatment of juveniles throughout the state.
“I can say today that the investigation has been closed and that the oversight specialists did not find that the jail staff violated any of its current policies,” said Annette Jacobi, director of the commission, at an Oklahoma County Jail Trust meeting Monday.
But in May, Oklahoma County Commissioner Carrie Blumert and Sheriff P.D. Taylor also requested are view of the jail's general policies regarding youth in the adult facility.
The request for review spurred the creation of an commission-a ffilia ted group called the “Detaining Youth Task Force” to review policies across the state, starting in Oklahoma County.
Task force chair Ellen Harwell presented a list of concerns and recommendations for the county jail regarding how they process and handle juvenile inmates.
Concerns included the jail having an inconsistent suicide precaution policy, jail staff forcibly removing a juvenile's clothing if they refused to wear a suicide gown, no staff that are provided specific juvenile-focused training and youth being required to pay for phone calls and visitations, among others.
“We identified several inconsistencies in the policy that could certainly be amended, as well as inclusion of some things that are specific to juveniles,” Harwell said.
Harwell walked trustees through recommendations to clearly define who is responsible to assign or remove someone from suicide precautions and to prohibit the use of force to remove juvenile clothing, as well as requiring specialized training for staff who work with juveniles and a no-cost process for juveniles to contact family, lawyers and others.
Recommendations for the state as a whole include creating a statue that would make juvenile detention centers the default placement location for all youth and another statute that would allow the commission to operate and oversee a grievance process for youth to use to report mistreatment.
“We have worked hard since I became sheriff to ensure the safety of our staff and t he detainees in our facility ,” Taylor is quoted as saying in the official commission report .“Having OCCY review and make recommendations regarding how youths are held in adult facilities makes good sense.”