Residents call for Jail Trust to resign
Issues with cleanliness, COVID-19 protocols cited
Several residents on Monday called for the resignations of all eight Oklahoma County jail trustees and jail administrator Greg Williams. The calls for resignation came during the trust's meeting to consider recommendations for the jail's improvement.
Local activist Christopher Johnston was among those calling for resignations. Johnston said the trust and Williams have accomplished nothing since taking over jail operations. He cited continued issues with cleanliness, including feces and urine on cell floors and the presence of bed bugs, as well as the lack of proper COVID-19 protocol, among examples of failures.
“The trust needs to resign after today's business, give the jail immediately into the Department of Justice,” Johnston said. “And if you don't do the
Jail administrator Greg Williams outlined upgrades and reaffirmed his commitment to detainee safety, continuing to cite staffing issues as his biggest struggle.
honorable thing and resign today, we will shut you down in the long run.”
Others echoed Johnston's tone, criticizing the trust's inability to solve basic issues while receiving one of the largest portions of the county budget. Resident Mark Faulk highlighted that members of the trust, including County Commissioner Kevin Calvey, had begun advocating to construct a new jail.
“It is not the time to talk about new jails,” Faulk said. “You can take the bed bugs and the cockroaches and the feces and the death and the destruction to a new jail just as easily as you can do it in this jail.”
Jail Trust to evaluate recommendations improvement
The jail trust Monday also voted to receive recommendations developed by the Detention Center Action Committee, a group consisting of trustees and various community members.
But when it failed to take any action to begin implementation, trustee Francie Ekwerekwu asked for guidance on what might be done to move the recommendations forward, beyond just receiving the report.
“When do you all think, if, we should implement these recommendations at the jail?” she said. “What about suggesting or supporting Mr. Williams in implementing some of these?”
Trustee M.T. Berry advised Ekwerekwu to partner with Williams to create a timeline for rollout of recommendations to bring before the group for consideration.
Ekwerekwu said Berry's suggestion is an acceptable way to move forward.
“Prior to that my fear as chair of the subcommittee is that, the subcommittee members, we did all of this work. It can't be for null,” she said. “Not just for us, for the jail, for the people who are in there, working and living, they need to know that these changes we've suggested are not going to just be on paper forever.”
Ekwerekwu said too much time was spent developing the recommendations to allow them to simply get pushed aside.
The dozens of recommendations outline ways for the jail to reduce population, implement a direct supervision program and overhaul the offender classification system, which is supposed to identify detainees' needs and level of risk to determine placement within the facility.
Monday's meeting also included the first annual report for the facility while under the trust. The report included goals for 2021, some of which aligned with the recommendations.
Williams outlined upgrades made to the facility and reaffirmed his commitment to detainee safety, continuing to cite staffing issues as his biggest struggle.
Jess Eddy, community activist, brought up a recent review of the jail done by David Parker, former administrator of the Tulsa County jail, that has not been made public.
“Where is that report?” Eddy said. “I understand the report says, in fact, that it isn't a staffing issue at the jail, that it's an administrative issue.”
Eddy said problems with overpopulation fall in the hands of judges and district attorneys, and he urged trustees to have conversations with those people about reforming the bail and bond systems.
Several other members of the public commented, again urging the trust to take immediate action to correct the facility's overpopulation, the prevalence of inmate deaths and poor conditions.
“You are that help, you are that direction, you are that fix. Make it happen,” said Garland Pruitt, president of the Oklahoma City chapter of the NAACP. “You have the power of life and death in your hands.”
The jail had a population of 1,672 as of Monday morning, 211 of which were Corrections Department inmates awaiting transfer. The jail has 345 employees, which remains below the goal of more than 400 set by Williams after a March hostage situation.