Recommendations made for jail improvements
Focus groups offer 50 suggestions to county panel
A first round of recommendations focused on improving conditions at the Oklahoma County jail includes ideas for increased supervision and staffing, reducing the population and more adequately classifying detainees.
The Detention Center Action Committee, created by the jail trust in January, launched focus groups to address issues within the jail. Each focus group met for several months to develop recommendations in its area; in total about 50 recommendations were proposed to the action committee.
Francie Ekwerekwu, a jail trustee and the action committee chair, said the recommendations will be compiled into a report to be presented at the jail
Staffing has been an ongoing concern at the jail. Inadequate staffing poses logistical problems for jail operations, sometimes leading to dangerous circumstances like a hostage situation in March that ended with one inmate killed by police and the hostage correction officer injured.
trust meeting set for Sept. 20. In that meeting, the trust will have the chance to consider and discuss the recommendations.
"This was a really outstanding subcommittee with a lot of expertise and credibility amongst its members, so I'm thinking that the trust will respect that and will take the recommendations under serious advisement," Ekwerekwu said.
She is hopeful that the trust will adopt and implement the recommendations and support jail staff and administration in bringing them to fruition.
Staffing struggles and the transition to direct supervision
One of the main recommendations is the transition of the jail to a direct supervision model.
"Direct supervision jails focus on actively managing inmate behavior to produce a jail that is safe and secure for inmates, staff, and visitors,” according to the National Institute of Corrections website.
The focus group laid out strategies to improve staffing and training, to manage inmate behavior, and to implement the transition.
Staffing has been an ongoing concern at the jail where, despite recruiting and retention efforts, shortages persist. Inadequate staffing poses logistical problems for jail operations, sometimes leading to dangerous circumstances like a hostage situation in March that ended with one inmate killed by police and the hostage correction officer injured.
Since the jail trust took over operations of the facility in July 2020, it has been subjected to intense scrutiny because of inmate deaths, escapes and other highly publicized incidents.
The focus group recommendations include increasing staff numbers to one officer per pod, per shift. The 13story jail currently has shifts without enough staff for one officer per floor. After the hostage situation, Jail Administrator Greg Williams said he hoped to see the staffing number rise to around 400 people. He said the jail had 334 employees at the Aug. 16 jail trust meeting.
In a direct supervision model, “staff interact continuously with inmates in the housing units, actively supervising them to identify problems in their early stages. They use basic management techniques to prevent negative behavior and encourage positive behavior,“the National Institute of Corrections continues.
The focus group recommends improvements to training including mental health and crisis intervention training.
Ekwerekwu, who works with detainees for pre-trial release, said the majority of people she interacts with self-identify as having a mental illness or wanting mental health care.
"When you have people that fall into this category, you really need the jail staff that works with them on a daily basis during their incarceration to be trained, educated and equipped to help them as it pertains to their mental health," she said.
The group recommends the encouragement of positive behaviors and interactions through recreational activities. It also encourages the jail trust to reevaluate the services provided internally and, as people are readied for release, to create more favorable conditions for those reentering society.
Finding deficiencies in classifying detainees
The panel recommended improved pay and a shift in culture among jail staff. The report states the new culture should focus on "compassion and professionalism," and should be "entwined in every interaction."
An overhaul of how offenders are classified, based on not only their background and criminal charges, but their needs, is a requirement, according to the group.
"The way that we do classification now is absolutely egregious," said Adriana Laws, a local activist and one of the community members on the action committee. "Part of the problem there is we're going to potentially have to build a new classification system."
The new processes according to the focus group should begin at intake and include evaluations of mental health and substance use status, health issues and notation of potential safety risks. This would allow staff to be more proactive, hopefully preventing some of the deaths and injuries in custody that have been a recurring issue at the jail.
The report notes that the Cleveland County jail already uses these methods and can be looked to as a resource or guideline for implementation and development of the system.
Finally, to improve the issues with classification, the group recommends collaboration with the organizations that can help pair detainees with resources for early release or attaining bail.
Reducing the jail population
The jail was rated to hold 1,200 detainees at the time of its completion in 1991. However, typical daily headcounts average more than 1,600. While this number has decreased over time, the action committee says it needs further reduction.
The group said those needing mental health and substance abuse should be flagged during the classification process and sent for treatment rather than entering the facility.
"We all know the jail is the biggest mental health facility in the state," Laws said. "When we start working with the resources who can fix those problems and help the population, then we can kind of mitigate some of the recidivism rate and prevent people from having to come back."
The focus group also recommends increased expediency in transferring Oklahoma Department of Corrections holds and those found to be critically or terminally ill and eligible for a medically approved release on their own recognizance.
Ekwerekwu said she knows the community has ongoing concerns about the timeline for changes at the jail and the conditions inside it. She said she stands with them in their frustration and is committed to continuing the work and seeing the challenges through.
"We are doing everything we can do to make sure these changes are implemented expeditiously but also with careful consideration to all the moving parts," she said.
Laws said she wants the jail and trust to continue working toward full transparency with the public. She said as more data becomes available through the jail tracker system, she hopes to see the action committee continue its work bringing even more ideas for improvement to the trust.
She also encouraged the community to be active participants in the processes to improve the jail.
"Keep your eyes open, see when the bodies are meeting, pay attention to the issues and the rhetoric around them that's out there, and show up," she said.